Once Upon A Time I Was Falling In Love, Now I'm Only Falling Apart
by Era of Void
Summary: A Potterlock story. Part of what will be a series in multiple other fandoms, including Homestuck, Hetalia, and other things that start with H. No Voldemort, just wizards being human. Happy Ending? Maybe... Updates weekly on Sundays. TW: HOMOPHOBIA! UMBRIDGE! ANGST! LANGUAGE!
1. Chapter 1

I looked at the clock. 8:45. Five minutes until I got out of here. I ran around my room, gathering my stuff. I threw everything in my trunk and it closed with a click. I thought it was better this way. My parents didn't care much for me, and I was always under the influence of "dearest Mycroft." In theory, this year I would get to choose my classes. Oh, I hoped so. Ancient Runes was incredibly interesting. And it would be useful for taking notes without Muggles understanding. Almost like a secret code.

Mycroft called out a five-minute warning and I shot down the stairs, my trunk on my back. He was waiting for me, wand in hand. My parents were there, but I ignored them. They returned the example and went straight to Mycroft, telling him not to be seen Apparating, how proud they were he was Head Boy, and "oh yeah take care of Sherlock too". I scowled at them and grabbed Mycroft's hand, a sadly necessary action for what was about to happen.

"Let's go," I snapped. He gave me an annoyed look but Apparated us into a stall in King's Cross Station. He stepped out first and I waited a moment to follow. The station wasn't full yet, so we didn't use as much caution as we went through the brick to get to Platform 9 ¾.

The train wasn't quite there, so instead, I put my bags down and made myself a seat. I pulled out my muggle phone, one I'd gotten with my own money- it was simply too useful to not use- and pulled up Worm on my phone. It was a rather interesting read so far, over a million words long according to the internet.

I had only gotten a few chapters further when the train finally arrived. Mycroft went off to the prefect's cabin, accompanied by a few of the kids who wanted to be on time as best they could- and in one person's case, possibly to hit on my brother. Irene Adler was the one prefect who didn't get there, which I thought wasn't odd. She was always fashionably late. I wasn't sure how she got to be a prefect. Needless to say, I wasn't a big fan of the prefects. They thought Mycroft was the next Minister, and always tried their best to sleaze up to him through gifts. In all honesty, they were probably right. He could get any place in the government he wanted- muggle or wizarding.

I kept reading on my phone, noting interesting plot points and what may have been references. Although I'd had my phone a few years, I didn't have much time to get immersed in muggle culture. I was thinking of taking Muggle Studies alongside Ancient Runes if I could get a Time-Turner rented from the Ministry. But they were all out this year, so I may just have to wait until next year to figure it all out.

I had been sitting for an hour and 20 minutes when a boy about my age walked in, followed by a girl-his sister if genetics had anything on them. I'm sure I'd seen them before, but in all honesty, I didn't care. They sat down and cast annoyed glares at each other. The boy, probably a Quidditch player, looked up at me it, but I ignored him. He was my age. John, possibly. Likely a Gryffindor, unless he was wearing the wrong robes. A small girl walked in and immediately blushed before looking away. That was Molly, wasn't it? She was a girl in the Ravenclaw dorm. She seemed to like me a lot, but I didn't care for her. It had been a summer though, so it was likely that I didn't evoke emotion other than shame for the past in her. Then one of the Slytherin prefects walked in. Irene Adler. The girl who walked in with the Quidditch player looked up and blushed, causing Irene to smirk. A blonde and a Hufflepuff prefect followed. We were silent for a while before Molly spoke up. "So… it's a long ride. Why don't we get to know each other?"

A silent nod passed around the cabin before the blonde boy said, "I'll start. My name is John Watson. I am a Gryffindor chas-"

I interrupted. "Chaser on the team but not the best broom as your Muggle family cannot afford it. Your father is in the Muggle war that is going on, I believe in Iraq, and he recently moved to the war zone, where you spent the summer. You were hurt, and have a limp which doesn't affect you often, due to it being psychosomatic. The girl next to you is your Hufflepuff sister, who is dating Irene Adler. Or at least secretly. Sorry."

Everyone stared at me before Irene gave me an extra glare. She started to tell me off, and I ignored her. She was my brother's friend, alike to him in many ways. And I had enough of him on my own. I just went back to my phone until she was done, and she apologized to everyone for my behavior. Usually, she wouldn't care, but her girlfriend was there. She did like to make good impressions. Slowly, the others picked up their introductions. After John, who I was right about, Harriet, his sister, went. I was right about her too. Then the blonde, Mary, from Gryffindor, our year- I thought I'd recognized her- and Gary-no, George-no, Geo- let's just go with Lestrade, who was Hufflepuff, and Irene, the Slytherin. She introduced me as "Sherlock the Ravenclaw asshole." I glared at her for that but didn't comment. She wasn't entirely wrong. During the ride, Irene and Harry flirted. Molly was right in between them, Lestrade having moved to continue a conversation with Mary and John. I checked my watch. Had it only been 15 minutes? Great! Just great.

About 3 hours later, I finished Worm. I started to get bored, so I deduced what I didn't know about those in the cabin with me. There wasn't much, as all of them were as easy to read as a book. That leaves me with… Socializing. Everyone but John was asleep, and he was trying to make eye contact. I ignored him until he finally asked, "So how did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Know everything about me."

"It was obvious. You have the build of a chaser and look like one of them. I have seen you before, even if you haven't seen me. Also, you have a broom with you, in a small case with the insignia of one of the cheaper brands. Your trunk is second hand, and your sister looks enough like you to know that easily. So I know that your family is poor-ish. You still have a slight look of amazement on your face when you see magic, like the chocolate frogs, and so you are still not used to magic. Half-bloods are not that amazed, as most are used to it by now, since their parents are allowed to use magic at home, so you're a muggle-born. You have a tan and a limp, and your family is too poor for a vacation, so you must have moved. There is a small jerk when you move your shoulder, like when people get shot and have a problem with their limbs, so there's that. Your limp isn't obvious when you're excited, and so it's psychosomatic. Your sister is like you, with the same build, and Irene sometimes brags about her Quidditch-player Hufflepuff girlfriend to my brother, and Harry blushed when Irene came in, so there. It was either that or a crush, but it was more likely from the build and the fact I'd seen her on the field it was said girlfriend."

"Wow. I… I've never thought about all that."

"People never do."

"That was amazing!"

"That's not what people usually say."

"What do they say?"

"Piss off."

As per his usual timing, Mycroft popped his head in at the worst time, right when John's contagious laugh was getting to me. "I see you've found yourself a… friend." I rolled my eyes. He had friends! If you count Irine and Lestrade. And the others who threw themselves onto him. I glared at him.

"Good thing he's a Gryffindor. You'll be needing friends there. After all, you did sign up for the exchange program, right? Oh, wait. That was what I did!" He walked away snickering as I grit my teeth.

"Prick."

"So was that…?"

"Not your problem.

John looked suspicious, but let the subject drop.

"How did you learn how to do the deduction-thing?"

"Time and dedication. And boredom. This summer, my parents were so excited about their Head Boy son I got away with whatever I wanted, which was mostly spending all my time at the Muggle library picking up tips on reading people. Wizards are terrible at it."

John hummed in response, obviously getting tired. Likely of me. I stopped talking and waited until his breathing evened out before stealthily getting out of the cabin to go find Mycroft.

"Sherlock! There you are," he exclaimed, feigning excitement.

"Mycroft," I said, my voice dripping with annoyance.

"Won't you introduce me to your new friend?"

"Why did you sign me up for the exchange program? And with Gryffindor, too! You know they don't study. It's so loud! I've been in there a few times, and I swear, once Quidditch season starts, I'll need earplugs."

"It's every other week, to give you a break. And we've decided something else. Due to the exchange program, Hufflepuff and Slytherin will be sharing classes. Which means…"

I groaned. Why was I always stuck with Gryffindor?

"You shouldn't be complaining. You've made a 'friend' faster than I've ever seen with the Gryffindor, and won't you like staying with him?"

"Mycroft! You know better than that. I thought you were smarter than to assume anyone I talk to is my friend."

He looked me dead in the eye with a knowing look in his eye. "Trust me, he's not just anyone to you. See you in the Great Hall!"

He left before I could get another word in, so I gave up and went back into the cabin. I pondered my fate in a very dramatic way, before giving up and just watching the scenery.

We finally arrived at Hogwarts another hour later. I got into the carriage and, surprisingly, was followed by John. Two other kids, a 2nd year Ravenclaw and a 4th year Gryffindor, followed us. John was still desperately trying to make small talk with me, clearly wanting a companion for the ride. "Isn't it cool how how they're invisibly pulled?"

"No. They are pulled by thesterals. You can see them if you've seen death." I wasn't in the mood for a better explanation. The boys across from me exchanged a look. I guess they'd seen death at a young age and didn't realize the carriages were pulled in that way. It pained them to learn this. They were siblings, only a few years apart. Single parent had raised them, and they had to move all over this summer. I wasn't sure why. They looked stressed from travel and relieved to be somewhere for longer than a month if I could read them right.

We finally arrived at the castle a few minutes later. The younger brother followed me from the carriage to the Ravenclaw table, and I sat down near Molly. I didn't bother watching for John and instead focused on deducing "Adler, Nick," who was sorted into Slytherin with his sister. There wasn't much to deduce about "Bauer, MJ," the first Hufflepuff, or "Bodette, Lydia," the first Gryffindor, but there were some interesting ones. "Doctor, David," was the first Ravenclaw, followed by 3 other "Doctor"s, all Ravenclaw. During all the commotion, I ended up surrounded. A dark-haired boy in my room, Cas, came over to say hi to the second year- Sam Winchester, as I learned- and the Doctors, as I was calling them, all sat by me in the empty space. Another boy in my room, Felipe, came over to flirt with Cat-I mean talk to her- I mean flirt-, as she was sitting with Molly. Another "Ketarkus" became a Slytherin, and I started to get bored. I tuned my ears to the conversation around me. Cat and Felipe had roped several other of the kids in my year into a conversation about color-coding. Cas, the 2nd year, the Doctors, Cecil and Carlos were all talking about Potion's color. "It's green!"

"It's yellow!"

"It's blue!"

Even Horuss, Aranea, Kanaya, Ashley, and Ashmin joined. I gave up, and said, "Potions is green, obviously."

Cat smirked at that before Felipe said, "No! It's yellow! For acid!" Nearly the whole table was in on the conversation when Dumbledore took the podium. For the first time since I sat down, I surveyed the teachers. Flitwick was missing! Odd. And there was a new person. Thin and pale, and… if I didn't know better, I would've called him American! The Great Hall quieted down as soon as Dumbledore tapped his wand. The silence was only broken when Dumbledore said, "There was a great tragedy over the summer. Professor Flitwick passed away. Let us have a moment of silence for him."

Everyone stayed silent, except for some of the Hufflepuffs, who were crying. I nearly rolled my eyes at the sudden change in everyone but managed to put up with it until it passed. "The replacement is the new Ministry-approved teacher, Mr. Pardo." That explained the American at the table. I should've deduced that… I was too busy with the people around me to be paying attention.

"Since he will not be replacing the head of Ravenclaw, Chuck Allah will be in the position temporarily." Chuck, a seventh year, looked surprised. There were congratulations, but they were over quickly. "I feel no need to go over the rules, so a few final words: ereyesterday, susurrus, and troglodyte. Now, you-"

"I would like to say a few words. The Ministry has a speech they wish for me to share with you." The new teacher spoke up. The fact he wanted to speak wasn't as surprising as the fact he spoke over Dumbledore. However, Dumbledore was calm as ever as the man began speaking.

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down the generations lest we lose them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching. Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts have brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognized as errors of judgment. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited."

The entire speech took about a minute and a half. I was listening the whole time. Some of the other Ravenclaws were, but not many. This was going to be interesting. The Ministry was trying to fuck up Hogwarts, was it? Good luck with that. Finally, we started eating the feast, but there was an air of anger in the room. Who did this teacher think he was?

No one talked to me during the feast, but that was unsurprising. Okay, that may have been a lie. Everyone around me was talking, and even asked my opinion a few times. But I was too busy mulling over the new teacher. What was the Ministry trying to do here? Which of the practices did the government not want us to use anymore? And was that good or bad?

When it was finally over, I was swept up with the other kids in different years. One of the prefects passed me a note about the exchange program, but I put it in my pocket for later. I didn't get up to the front to put in the password, but I got in. Everyone had slept on the train, so they were all full of energy. I doubted they would be sleeping until late tonight. The first-years were quizzing some of the older kids about Hogwarts, the second- and third-years were in a chess tournament, and the remaining kids were on the second floor playing some muggle game. Aranea, a sixth-year, was in the center, with the lights out. She had her wand lit and was calling people out if she saw them moving. One of the 4th year girls told me the rules, and I joined in. It was a slow game until one of the sixth-years (my bet is Marco) yelled "fire!" When we figured out that there was not a fire, Aranea got everyone out except for Nicodemus, Bill Nye, Roxy, and myself. The others waited on the grand staircase for the game to end, and it ended quickly enough. Bill won, and the muggle-borns started chanting his name, ending with "Bill Nye the Science Guy!" and laughing their asses off. I had seen a few references to some TV show by that name, although I doubted anyone would've seen it. Huh.

One of the half-bloods asked why they did that, and one said something about TV. We moved onto a game called "Silent Ball," in which the rules were obvious from the title. From there, we played Frogger, which I won. Finally, at around one in the morning, when the first-years had finished interrogating the older kids and gone to bed, when the older kids had joined the rest upstairs, when the second- and third-years had joined and congratulated Kevin Tran, Sam Winchester, Angelica Schuyler, and "Professor" Xavier, for boring everyone with their chess game that took forever, everyone had broken off into groups. The other fourth years were all down by the large fireplace playing "Honey I Do." There was lots of laughter and I joined in. The game was simple, but the other kids laughed as if it was the funniest thing to watch people play ever.

Eventually, the 4th years went to bed as a group, sort of. Cas and Jade had to be levitated upstairs by Cat and Kanaya, while Cecil and Carlos barely made it to a bed before collapsing. Ashley, Ashmin, Roxy, and the other girls seemed half asleep as they walked into their room. Alex Hamilton barely shut his curtains and I deduced them while they slept, pretending to adjust their curtains. There wasn't anything new that was noticeable, so I moved to focus on the others, who were still somehow awake.

"And murder, and death-" Felipe's rambling was cut off by Calvin.

"And Cat."

"Shut up."

"Don't deny it!"

"You _lurrrve_ her," Sollux added.

"Whatever. I'm going to sleep."

Calvin and Sollux nodded, before retreating to their own beds. Felipe drew back his curtains before saying, "Night, Sherlock."

I hummed in response before getting into bed. I doubted I could sleep, but I might as well try.

I was right. I couldn't sleep. A thunderstorm kept me up. The rain made a pattern on the window, and I started to compose with my violin, "Muffliato" cast- a spell I'd found in an old book to quiet my own actions. Very useful for late night library trips. A flash of lightning showed a figure out the window, and I squinted to see who it was. But I couldn't tell, and by the next flash, it was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

I only got an hour of sleep that night, but that was okay. More than I'd gotten lately. I stayed in my bed, reading a book I'd brought. At least, until one of the muggle-borns' phone's started screaming something about… "Livin' on a Prayer?" It was… nice music, I suppose. Annoying at 5:50 in the morning, but…

"What the crap is that?!" Normally quiet Cas was screaming in anger. He was obviously asleep at the time and did not take well to this rude awakening. He didn't usually.

"Sorry, sorry," Calvin muttered. "I forgot to turn off my phone's alarm. I'm used to getting up early during the summer, and I didn't turn it off like usual." Calvin hit the screen of his phone, and the song shut off. Cecil and Carlos gave a synchronised glare at him, and Sollux and Felipe just laughed. Somehow, Hamilton stayed asleep through the whole debacle.

"But really, Calvin! I've been stuck in the same room as you for 3 years and never heard anything like this before," Cas complained.

"As I was saying, I forgot to turn it off on the train. I usually do, but this time, there was someone I was talking to."

"You were staring at Emily." Felipe added. Emily was a Slytherin girl in our year. I didn't have much info on her, other than Calvin seemed to like her.

Calvin blushed and said "No, I wasn't!"

"You were, and that's why you forgot to turn it off."

"Ugh, fine," Calvin admitted. Hamilton woke up at that and we all went down to the common room. It was too early for breakfast, so we stayed by the fire.

"Where did Cat go? Is she still asleep?" The girl's and boy's rooms were connected, and more often than not one of the boys would sleep over with them after a study group. Or… whatever it is they did. But because of that and how physically close our dorms were, if the guys woke up, so did the girls.

"Oh." Roxy turned to me. "She's down getting coffee. Text her if you want some."

Well, I didn't have her number. I told Roxy that and she let me use her phone. "At some point you should join our group chat. It's one hell of a ride."

I found Cat in her contacts somehow, despite her name being "my small bby" with a cat emoji. I asked her for a cup of coffee. Quickly enough, she replied, 'black as my soul?' and asked if anyone else wanted anything.

From the other side of the room, Felipe must've been on a call with her. "Ham wants a java chip iced coffee, Cas wants coffee 1 cream 5 sugars, Cecil wants hazelnut coffee, Carlos wants an Irish Cream, Sollux wants a- and I'm quoting him here- 'pumpkin spice latte like a white girl', Calvin wants a coffee two creams and two sugars, and I want blood."

"I'm not getting you blood."

"Fine. Get me hot chocolate."

"And how many sprinkles does the wittle toddler want?" she mocked.

"Muggles are weird." I commented.

"I know what you mean." Calvin had finished being punched by people who were mad about his phone going off (everyone in my dorm whose name started with C except Calvin himself), and came over to talk to Felipe. Within the next few minutes, the 4th year girls joined us.

As an explanation as to why they were awake as well, Kanaya said, "Roxy woke us up after hearing her favorite song, and now we're here." She must've read my expression. The fires were warm, and everyone was curled up, comfortable. The rain still came, lulling some of us to sleep. It was interesting. Was this what family was supposed to be like? Or was I just pulled in to their insanity and closeness? I didn't think I liked any of them particularly, but… maybe it was just how they were as people.

Cat arrived a few minutes later, levitating the drinks on trays behind her. "I'm just going to call off orders. Starbucks time bitch."

I'd been to Starbucks a few times. As far as I heard, she had a summer job there, which is why she could make this stuff for herself.

"2 coffees, black as souls." I got up, and so did Roxy.

"1 cream 5 sugars!" She sang, weirdly. Cas just grabbed it.

"2 hot chocolates!" Felipe and Ashley got up, racing to get their drinks.

"2 and 2." Calvin got up, his drink in his hand in seconds, with no thanks. She gave him a Look™ and flicked him in the head, causing him to yelp.

"2 Irish Creams." Carlos and Molly got up, actually thanking her. She smiled and stared at Calvin.

"3 Hazelnut." Cecil, Jade, and Kanaya.

"Chai Tea Latte." Ashmin gave Cat a hug, which didn't faze Cat in the least. As far as I could tell, Ashmin would hug anyone and anything if it did something for her.

"Pumpkin Spice Latte, like a white girl." Sollux just accioed it. "Which leaves Charlie with the espresso and me with mine." Their drinks didn't reveal much, except for Charlie. I suppose she didn't sleep well either. I already knew Cat didn't sleep. Possibly ever…? She scared me a little. She was headstrong- if I had given her a house, it would've been Slytherin-she was too odd to be Gryffindor- just based on that. But she was smart, I guess.

"Cat." She hadn't sat down before Ashley said her name.

She took a deep breath. She sounded like she was about to snap. "What?"

"I need my books, slave. Get me my books. Or my phone."

"Did you really not bring it down?"

"Shush child."

Cat raised her eyebrows. I hid a smirk behind my mug. She looked like she was about retort, but before she could, Roxy asked her, "Can you get mine too?"

Which, of course, started everyone off asking for their books. Or any book. Didn't matter. It was like 6 in the morning. Not early for me, but the Great Hall didn't open until 9.

"Of course, my masters." She rolled her eyes and went upstairs.

"She has to be from heaven," Sollux said.

"She's not. She's just nice when tired. And you should know better," Ashmin stated. "She isn't from heaven."

"Really?" Cas questioned. "I don't know."

It was weird watching these people interact. The ones who Cat knew best acted like one large family, incorporating many of the people they met. There weren't specific stated groups in our school, but they were there. Most of the kids in my year were their group, at least the ones in Ravenclaw. And Slytherin. But not Hufflepuff. Wait, yes. No?

I didn't even know.

Cat got back a few moments later, with her arms full of books. She passed out books from her trunk, as well as from Ashley's, Kanaya's, and Felipe's. How she unlocked them, I wasn't sure. All our trunks were "Alohomora" proof, so she must've used a key. Or maybe picked the lock? I got one called 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." I sipped my coffee and started to read. It couldn't be too weird.

A few minutes later, however, I was proven wrong. It was weird as fuck. About 3 hours later, at 9, I had finished the collection. At this point, the other Ravenclaws were up and the Hall was about to open. There was a group of us at the door, waiting, when a prefect said, "The Great Hall is open now." I was caught up in the rush, barely moving down the stairs.

But before we got to the Hall, Rowena, the ghost, showed up and said, "Dumbledore has an announcement. Be warned." We exchanged looks. This could be either good or bad. When we got into the Great Hall, there were no tables. Weird. But in the corners, there were large cloths covering… something. I was sure there would be an explanation. The other houses were there already, just as confused. There was a mild level of chatter until Dumbledore got up at the podium.

"We have two announcements. The classes will be switched around this year: Hufflepuff with Slytherin, and Ravenclaw with Gryffindor. But that's not our biggest news. As you may be aware, there are no tables. We have decided, due to our efforts to help the houses interact, we will have new, levitating desks that make interlocking tables. You each have your own, and may customize it. The 7th years have made this as their final project, so you may talk to them if you have feedback. Please, enjoy this opportunity to talk to the others in your school." There was a moment of silence, in which Dumbledore revealed the desks. Then, there was chaos. Some people stood up on chairs to get their friends to one place, and it didn't take long until there were about 20 tables. I was in the largest, with the 4th year Ravenclaws and Slytherins in the center. There were also Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, but not in the numbers that the others were. I was there, but alone. That is, until John came up. "Can I sit here?"

"If you would like."

"So, I heard that Ravenclaw stayed up most of the night. Were you a part of the party?"

"I did stay up, but I was not a major part."

"Hmmm." The food had just appeared, and John started eating. I only ate a few bites before being done with it. I didn't eat much at home, and I doubted this year would be any different. I'd tried to eat more in 2nd year, but I ended up sick. While John was eating, I started to deduce the groups around I personally didn't have a "group" officially, I knew what one looked like. Also, rivalries between the people here would tell me who liked who and help, if anything from my books happened. It was unlikely, but who knew. It seemed like a medieval court, with factions within groups, and kingdoms. In fact, you could map almost everything about these groups onto that metaphor. There were kings and queens, and those who were closer to the leaders than others. They all had positions, and some of the groups even had "laws." Then there were nomads, who usually talked to a few but not all of them, alone for the most part. And then there were people like Mycroft, who were "powers behind the throne." Everyone answered to him. Well, almost everyone. The 4th years were the one that refused to talk to Mycroft.

All the groups had unofficial names. The popular fashion-obsessed girls (see Gryffindor girls and a few Slytherins) were known as the Lemon Drops. They tried to call themselves the Powers, but gave up last year. The Quidditch players who weren't in another group were part of the jock group, who wanted to be called the Dominators, but were called the Jocks. No cool name for them.

The quieter kids- especially the Hufflepuffs who had cried at the beginning when Flitwick had died- were the RomCommers. It was a terrible name, but it stuck. Some people called themselves the Avengers, but were constantly changing their name. We just called them the Marvels. I'm not sure why. The Countries were another group entirely. There were more groups, of course, but I didn't really care.

Even within the 4th years, there were two groups. One Karkat, a Slytherin, led, which also included most of the siblings of his friends, and the one the rest of Ravenclaw led. (Kanaya and Roxy were over with the others. We called them the Homestucks behind their backs, and I was pretty sure they used that to refer to themselves too. The group I was "in" was called "Chaos" or "Sorcery." The kids who were "royalty" called it simply "friend group" but they did know what the common names were.)

The fourth and sixth years were also the ones that didn't respond to anyone, period. I was still mentally assigning kids roles when John said, "Sherlock, are you really in the exchange program? Who signed you up?"

"It was my brother, Mycroft. He's a dick. I'm working on disinheriting myself from the family."

"Oh. So that was the prefect, right?"

"Yes, it was." Mycroft came by and answered John's question. "And don't swear, Sherlock."

"I'll do what I fucking want."

"No, you won't. And the schedule is that you will report to Gryffindor tomorrow night. Right after class." He walked away, not letting me get a word in.

Right as Mycroft did so, a 4th year Slytherin walked up. "Are you Sherlock Holmes?"

"Yes, why do you want to know?"

"I just wanted to see you. You're quite the talk in Slytherin."

"Hmmm."

"I don't want to annoy you, but I would like to sit here." And he didn't already? As a fourth year Slytherin, he must've known what the Ravenclaw table was. As I mentioned earlier, there were not only the Homestucks taking up a large portion of Slytherin (4th years Rose, Terezi, Vriska, Dave, Karkat, Eridan, and Equius, along with Cronus, Kurloz, Mituna, Meenah, Porrim, and Damara in 6th), but a good chunk of the Chaos group was in Slytherin too (: someone had to bring the sneaky, since Ravenclaw was surprisingly rambunctious and infectious.

But I didn't like how this one was sleazy. My subconscious was trying to tell me something, something about him, so I got up and left the Great Hall. John followed, asking if I knew who that was. I didn't, and told him so. That was odd. I thought I knew everyone in the school, at least their face. There were only around 270 students total. Couldn't be too difficult, right?

A few minutes later, Sam Schmidt came running up. "Someone help! Anyone! Help! Please!" She burst into tears. I grabbed her shoulders and said, "I can help. Just tell me what's wrong."

"I was- I was- I was in the bathroom and my friend Annabeth was outside and I was about to come out when I heard someone yell 'Imperio' so I stayed inside 'cause I was scared and when I went out Annabeth told me she wanted to kill everyone and took my wand and I ran but she's coming please help." She said it all in one breath, quickly, then went back to crying. I ran towards where she pointed, wand out.

Annabeth was still in front of the bathroom, but before I could do anything, she petrified me. She raised her wand and started to say something, but before she could, John came up from behind and yelled, "Impedimenta!" She stopped casting the spell. John unfroze me and then said, "Watch her. I'm going to go get a teacher."

I petrified her as an extra precaution and got the wands she had. It didn't take long for McGonagall to show up. "What happened?" I explained to her the situation. She looked horrified. "Can you remove the curse?" John asked. "No, I can't, I never studied this, I need to go get Professor Lupin, and-"

"Professor, with your permission, I've been trying out these sorts of spells to practice. May I try?"

McGonagall was skeptical, but said, "I suppose." I had taken it off several spiders at home as practice. Some say it's inhumane, but spiders can't talk. The spell took about a full minute of talking, but it worked. Annabeth was out of the curse. Sam went over and helped her to the hospital wing. As we walked, I asked her, "Who did this?"

"They were wearing all black, and had a deep voice. I couldn't say anything else about them." John turned to stare at me, probably going to say something along the lines about me being insensitive. But before he could, Madame Pomfrey shooed us away. I left and made it out to the hall before celebrating. "Yes! An Imperio, a mysterious person, and it's only the first day!" I got into mystery books over the summer, and got very good at solving crimes. Which was also why I was assigning groups. I'd used to be more focused on my studies, but now there was something that interested me far more. I'd been waiting for one to occur, and here one was. I ran into the Slytherin common room, getting the password in two tries.

"Sherlock, how-" Irene greeted me at the door.

"Doesn't matter. I need a list of everyone in the school. Their names and faces. Where's Mycroft?"

"I'll go get him." We'd interacted few times in these past few years, but she knew me well enough to decide against fighting me. She left to find him and I looked around. I got some curious looks from the people who decided not to come to breakfast, but that wasn't surprising. Not only was I the Head Boy's brother, but... what did that 4th year say? Right, that I was the "talk of Slytherin." Surprising. Mycroft came down a few minutes later with the sheet, which I grabbed without saying anything.

I ran back up to the Ravenclaw common room, and from there to the library passage. When I was a second year, I had found that the passage had a closet within it. I only had been in a few times, but now I had a use for it. In third year, I had lined the stone walls with fabric, and now I pinned the list to the wall. I enchanted it to move the names around and match them with their faces. The blood status was next to the names, and I checked to confirm my suspicions. Yes, Annabeth was a muggle-born. "This could be a hate crime, so try purebloods first." I sorted them by blood, and, using a Pensive, looked at my memory from this morning. I checked through everyone, ruling out faces as they went by. It took me awhile, but I got down to 6 faces: Lilah, a 1st year Slytherin, Egan, a 2nd year Hufflepuff, Garth, also a 2nd year Hufflepuff, Conrad, a 3rd year Gryffindor, Meenah, a 6th year Slytherin, and Gabriel, a 5th year Slytherin. All of them but Lilah and Conrad were pureblood, and I put them at the bottom. I also put the boys at the top, although voices could be disguised. I made a mental note to visit them, and came out of the closet.

I couldn't see anything once I got to the common room, which confused me for a moment. There was a 2nd year coming down with their nightclothes on who said, "Why the fuck are you up?" I didn't answer, and instead felt a wave of tiredness come over me. I went up to my room, managing not to wake anyone up. Although, it's more likely than not they were awake and just let me be. I had class tomorrow, didn't I? I might as well try to sleep. I sat on my bed and again, tried to sleep, my head spinning with names and motives. Annabeth… Who didn't like her? Who did? And why now? The first few days? Revenge? Anger? Or random? But eventually, I gave up. I needed to find out more. The fastest way to get to tomorrow was to sleep. If only I could.


	3. Chapter 3

As I rounded the corner the next day, I was trapped behind two slow-moving 6th years. "I can't believe she asked me out!"

"Meenah, you've liked Aranea for years."

"Anyways, I know I have, but I mean it's still weird. Should I say yes?"

"Do you like her?"

"Yes, but I don't want to seem too interested."

"Tell me exactly what happened."

"Yesterday morning, she came up to me and asked me out. Her exact words were 'Hey, Meenah! So, we've been friends for awhile. I was thinking… would you like to go out with me?' I wrote them down because that's a shell of a way of asking someone out."

It really wasn't. And those dumbass fish puns needed to stop. Well, that was Meenah's alibi. That was really easy! Almost too easy. I'd have to check it at breakfast.

"Come on, Porrim. We need to be going. We have class today!" Oh, right. I had class. Class. That. And afterwards, I got to go to Gryffindor. Yay. I went down to the hall and summoned my desk. This time I was alone. That is, until John sat down. "Hey, Sherlock."

"John."

"You look lonely."

"Not really."

"I'm still going to sit here."

"Okay."

"Sherlock, talk to me! Where did you go after the hospital wing? I tried to keep up with you, but I couldn't."

"I wanted to think on my own. I have a small place I go on occasion. Don't worry about it." I finished my food quickly and left the hall, John in my wake. He was obviously interested in what I was doing. If I didn't know he had a crush on Mary, I'd almost think he had a crush on me! Ha! I checked my schedule. First off, History of Magic. I walked to the classroom, looking at the other students. There were, of course, the other Ravenclaws, but there were also the Gryffindors. I knew them all by heart, of course. Luckily, sparing me a tedious fifteen minutes, Professor Binns didn't bother with introductions and began with Muggle-wizard interactions. It was interesting to some of the students, but the majority of the kids were bored already. They spoke quietly and passed notes. Professor Binns, however, didn't care. He continued lecturing, blind to the air of ennui.

Eventually, History of Magic ended. Our next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Although we all could go to different classes, this wasn't one of them. We did have elective-like things, but they were often later in the day. Lupin started off with introductions, although many of us knew each other.

"Hello, class. As you may remember, I am Professor Lupin. We will continue our studies from last year starting tomorrow, as you are in new classes, as well as a new student, Lafayette. He is a transfer student from Beauxbatons- yes, they do occasionally accept boys. So, we will be doing icebreakers today."

The tables were in an almost-circle, and we started to introduce ourselves. The Gryffindors looked happier than we were to do this, and spoke with enthusiasm. They had taken one side of the room and all spoke quickly enough.

The first girl was Mary. "I'm Mary, and my favorite color is pink."

"I'm Lafayette. I transferred here from Beauxbatons this year. My favorite color is red." A dark-skinned boy with bushy hair in a ponytail.

"John Laurens, and I go by Laurens. I am not John Watson, he is John. My favorite color is gold." A lighter skinned boy with equally bushy hair in a ponytail.

"George. Favorite color is red." Black with no hair at all.

"Victoria. My favorite color is pink." Tan skin, dark hair.

"Willow, pink too." Light skin, blonde hair.

"John Watson, people call me John, and red."

"Dean, favorite color black." He was the boy from the carriage, the one with the brother.

"Lisa, favorite color is pink!" She was dark-haired and light skinned- and draped over Dean, who was not happy about it.

"Gamzee. Purple." A dark skinned boy I'd seen few times before- he was always in trouble. He had face paint on and insane hair. He looked like he did drugs. Like really hardcore drugs.

"Aradia, and my favorite color is rust!" She was very happy. A few years before, she had seemed dead, but now she was as happy as could be.

"Dirk, orange." Dirk had… issues. I felt bad for him. He had a giant crush on Jake, and Jake was completely oblivious.

"Jane, and my favorite color is light blue." She was the heiress to the Betty Crocker empire and, if I knew anything, Roxy had a crush on her, but she, like Dirk, was stuck up on Jake. Who was again oblivious.

"Olivia." A quiet girl. She reminded me of Molly some.

"Amy Q." She was also quiet. I didn't remember seeing her around. She sounded like she was from America, which was odd.

"Jake English. My favorite color is forest green." For the number of people who would throw themselves at his feet (2), he was surprisingly small and, in my opinion, unattractive. But I didn't dwell on how aesthetically pleasing he was, and instead turned to the Ravenclaws. There wasn't much I didn't know about them, as spending 3 years with people will make you get to know them rather well whether or not you want to.

Now here came the shouty bitch. "MY NAME IS KARKAT. I FUCKING HATE COLORS." And oh, he did. He hated everything. Kanaya looked like she wanted to scold him, but held back. Lupin just laughed.

The Ravenclaws didn't bother with much, and instead said their names and black. Every single one of us. Including me. Said black. Except Roxy. Who said neon pink. And got several judgmental looks for ruining the aesthetic.

When all that was over, the kids clumped and started talking. Most classes wouldn't have any learning to do on the first day, especially if there were transfer students. I was not in any conversations, so I deduced the ones going on around me. Lafayette, Laurens, George, and Hamilton were all friends, and Laurens and Hamilton were a bit more than that.

Mary, Willow, and Victoria were all friends. Willow and Victoria hate all of the Ravenclaws for unknown reasons, but I already knew that. Mary has a boyfriend, but he's cheating with Victoria. John likes Mary. Amy knows Ashmin, Cat, and Ashley somehow and is good friends with them. Dean and Lisa are in a "happy" relationship, but Dean wants out. He likes someone else, but I can't tell who yet.

Gamzee, Jake, Jane, Karkat, Aradia, and Dirk went to join the Homestucks in Ravenclaw, Roxy, Sollux, and Kanaya. They were simple to figure out, and I started to tune in to the other conversations. Victoria, Mary, Willow, and (half-heartedly) John and Dean were gossipping about the Slytherins, the Ravenclaw girls who weren't with the Homestucks talking with Emma, Calvin, Ryan, and Felipe about nicknames, while Carlos and Cecil were flirting. Lafayette, Hamilton, George, and Laurens were talking about Muggle technology. Meanwhile, Cas and I were sitting off to the side. He was staring at someone- Dean, if my eyes were as good as I hoped- with an intense glare. We were silent.

Lupin noticed that, and said, "Guys, this is the first day. At least try to talk to everyone slightly more. Why don't we do more icebreakers?" There were groans, but the conversations died off. "Favorite animal, or pets, or something like that."

There were no surprises (the normal owl, cat, frog types) until Cat said, "Snake. I have one named Copernicus, but I can't bring him yet. Maybe soon. And my parents have two cats. They're very sweet." The Gryffindors looked at her, terrified, and she just laughed. I didn't have any pets, but that didn't stop me from making something up to see if I could pull it off.

Next, we did hobbies. This was going to take a while. I tuned out as best I could. I let my eyes glaze over into a false attention. As much as hobbies seem to demonstrate the personalities of the people who do them, they are far more likely to be something parents forced their kids to do at this age.

The next period, Arithmancy, was a lot alike, but with different people. Three of the Gryffindors had signed up, Emma, Dirk, and Lafayette, and several of the Ravenclaws, Ashmin, Felipe, Carlos, Hamilton, Jade, Cat, and Calvin, but the majority were Hufflepuff and Slytherin. We introduced ourselves again, and then the other houses started.

"Nat." A red-haired Slytherin.

"John." Hufflepuff, and wearing huge glasses. "But you can call me Egbert right now, since there's like 3 in here."

"Aziraphale." Hufflepuff, light skin, dark hair.

"Crowley." He had his arm around Aziraphale, and dark skin. Slytherin robes on loosely. He seemed to project an aura of "punk," even with his arm around pastel-jumper Aziraphale.

"Jim." It was that boy from earlier! The one who had approached me. I was busy thinking about it and I nearly missed the next name. Something like Teziri. Terezi? I think so.

"Moran." Blonde, very buff.

"Dave." Albino.

I ignored the rest of the names. They were all people I knew. Moran and Jim were the interesting ones.

When that was over, we turned towards the sound of a commanding voice. "That concludes our introductions. Today we will be going over the course, and I will begin teaching tomorrow." The teacher, Mrs. DeLorme, started immediately. I think I was going to like this teacher.

When that class was over, I went down to lunch. I managed to find Aranea, who confirmed Meenah's story, Lilah, who was hidden by her friends yesterday, Gabriel, who was in the library, as confirmed by a visit to Madame Pince, and Garth, who was in the boy's bathroom. That left Stella and Egan. Stella had no obvious connection to Annabeth as far as I could tell, but Egan knew her boyfriend. If the gossip I'd gotten from the conversation between Mary and Victoria was true, he used to have a crush on Annabeth and had her "stolen" away by Percy. He was more likely, as he was a pureblood and male, but I didn't know for sure. There was no opportunity, not yet, which made me a little doubtful.

I thought about that during Ancient Runes -which was the same kids as Arthrithmancy- Transfiguration, and planned to during Charms until I remembered that there was a new teacher. The other kids remembered as well, and were nervous. And since the Ravenclaws aren't entirely dumbasses, they knew exactly what the speech meant. We were all seated, wands out, when the teacher walked in.

"I am Mr. Pardo. You will not need your wands, as we will not be using them. Today, or ever in my class. This will be entirely on theory. Before we start on our book, however, I would like you to discuss the phrase on the board in groups, which I will assign you. They will be your group for the next semester, and I will switch next semester. The statement is, 'Magic, when used by children, is dangerous.' Your groups are as follows:" His voice was terribly monotone. I was in a group with Victoria, Willow, Felipe, John, and Jade. Jade started speaking and I barely tuned in. The others put in their parts before asking me my opinion. "Inaccurate. Sometimes, magic can be dangerous, but only without control. That is the purpose of practice in a safe environment." Mr. Pardo was walking among the groups and frowned at my statement. "No. Magic is very dangerous. The school is to contain you until you come of age."

"No, it's not. It's for education." Jade and John came to the same conclusion at the same time. Mr. Pardo simply wrote something down on his paper and continued on. I tried to deduce him, but other than hating children, I couldn't get anything about him. He seemed immaculate. I'd have to dig deeper later. In the meantime, the others continued discussing. Felipe and Willow agreed with me, but then Victoria said, "It's a sin to hurt someone, and magic is an easy way to do so." Immediately, Willow joined her, less of her own opinion and more for her social status. Mr. Pardo had come back for that and smiled. He wrote more things down on his papers and went back to observing the other groups. Class finished a few minutes later and the other kids were in low spirits. No one wanted to talk about that class.

When we arrived for Herbology, and later Astronomy, even though there was more icebreaker time, no one spoke. The teachers let us have free reign over our time, and class passed slowly. So I thought over Stella and Egan. Egan wouldn't talk to me, although Stella probably would, if I told her what had happened. But how could I get Egan to talk?

I was still thinking when John came up. "Sherlock, it's dinner time. You were caught up in your own thoughts. Let's go eat." He took my arm and we went down to the Great Hall. I tried to find Egan, but I couldn't see him in the chaos of the desks. John was still hanging onto my arm, possibly without thought, and sat down, summoning both of our desks. "Sherlock, can you do that deducing thing to everyone?"

"Most people, yes. Why?"

"I know she's dating Chad, but do you think Mary likes me?" I was momentarily stunned by his question, but then said, "Well, Chad is cheating on her, so she'll be single soon. However, I don't know if she likes you that much. Wait until she and Chad break up."

"Wait, how do you know that?"

"Victoria spends her time staring at Chad, and he stares back. Also, they flirted at lunch."

"...Oh."

A few minutes of awkward conversation later, I went to get up again, but he said, "Do you want me to show you to the common room?"

"Sure, I guess." I didn't really want to, but I guess I could. I had to. He took my arm again and brought me out of the hall, and up to one of the other towers. We stopped in front of a fat lady who said, "Password?"

"Vanquish." The portrait swung forward to reveal a burst of red and yellow. It was styled like the Slytherin common room, with two staircases, but it was far brighter and there was no lake. We went up the left staircase, going slowly to the top. "Here we are!" Everyone was in the dorm and looked up when I got there. There was a wave and a very excited Laurens in my face before I sat down on a bed next to John's. "You're trading with Dean, right?" Lafayette asked.

"I believe so."

"Bye!" Vimes chimed in sarcastically. "Don't come back!"

Dean ignored them and said to me, "Can you show me where it is? I don't know. Also, don't you need your stuff?"

"I suppose I do." How did I forget that? John must've been too excited. There was no way he distracted me at all, was there? And I was thinking of other things, too. It was acceptable. People just wanted to drag me everywhere today, didn't they. That must be it.

"Come on." I walked out and down the steps to the common room. Dean followed soon after, his trunk floating behind him. The Ravenclaw tower was on the other side of the castle, and part way there Dean started to make conversation. "So, Sherlock, do you think you'll like being in Gryffindor?"

"No, not really."

"I think I'll like being in Ravenclaw."

"You would, having a crush on one of the kids."

He blushed a bright red and stuttered, "How-How did you know?" I raised my eyebrows at him. "Not that I have one, of course," he corrected. "But if I did, how would you know?"

"You aren't happy with your girlfriend, that was obvious from your discomfort with her. Also, when the Ravenclaws walked in this morning, you stared at one of us and your gaze changed constantly, I believe it was an immediate attraction, and you were dealing with it. More physical than mental. I couldn't tell who, however."

"What the hell? Creepy son of a bitch."

"Don't worry about it. This is normal."

We got to the common room without another word from Dean. When we got there, however…

"Whoa. This is cool. The Gryffindor common room is nothing like this one." I let him look around a moment before saying, "Come along."

"Why is there only one staircase?"

"Because Ravenclaws need to talk to each other and don't care about gender. However, we do have a small landing before each of the rooms that senses intent and chooses whether or not to let you in."

"Cool."

When we got to the 7th floor, Dean opened the door labeled, "Boy's Dorm." Most of the 4th years were inside already, including several of the girls. Everyone looked up when I opened the door.

"Hi," Dean offered. The air was tense for no apparent reason, but I believed it was due to a combination of surprise and the fact that there was someone in the room who liked him. But that wasn't my goddamn problem. I grabbed my trunk and left to get back to the Gryffindor common room.

When I got there, John was waiting. "Sherlock, I-" I raised my eyebrow and he cut himself off. "Nevermind. The Divination teacher assigned homework, I need to work on it." He turned back to the parchment in front of him. I walked out and into the common area to wait for Stella. I might be able to interview her about Annabeth.

Luckily, 45 minutes later, Stella walked by. I approached her carefully. "Hello. Are you Stella Delcante?"

She gave me a weird look but said, "Yes. Why do you want to know?"

"Where were you yesterday at breakfast?"

"Why do you want to know? Freak." She said the last part under her breath, but I heard it.

"Ugh, he's that creep who knows Lestrade. I overheard him talking about it to Anderson when I went to see him the other day. Apparently, he's some genius kid. I don't believe it." That was Sally Donovan, one of the girls in Stella's year.

"Ugh, whatever. Why should I tell you anyways?"

"Someone's been hurt. You are one of the suspects. I'm trying to get you out of trouble. Do you want to cooperate, or do you want me to report you as one of the people who likely hurt Annabeth Chase?"

"Go away! I was with my friends anyways. You're some creep, you know." She walked away, glancing back at me. I could take that as an alibi, but I wasn't yet sure. It was unconfirmed and she could still be the person who hurt Annabeth. I wasn't going to get more information tonight, so I might as well go pretend to sleep.

The next day, however, there was more to do than I anticipated. The teachers didn't go light on homework, which wouldn't have been a problem, but…

"Can you go get my boyfriend? I want to see him!" Lisa was complaining to me. In my ear. Loudly.

"No, I can't."

"Why not?"

"I'm not allowed. Trust me, if I could switch with him I would, but I am not allowed." I'm sure she asked again, but I had started to ignore her. I left the common room to go find Egan again, John not stopping me.

He was by the lake, his tufts of red hair sticking out. "Are you Egan?"

"Maybe. Who wants to know?"

"Me."

"Why?"

I sighed. This would take awhile. I might as well get straight to the point. "Someone's been hurt. You were missing from the scene of the crime."

"I didn't touch her."

Well, Egan was an idiot. He knew who it was and had just admitted it. But he wasn't the one who planned this, was he? He could have wanted to be caught. He was definitely the one to hurt her, as one of the people missing. "I don't use Unforgivable Curses. Goodbye."

That was the final straw. It was him. How would he know otherwise? All I needed was a bit more evidence before turning him in.


	4. Chapter 4

After Egan left, I walked back to the castle. Dinner was about to start. I realized I hadn't eaten much in a few days. I probably should. I summoned my desk. This time, Lestrade found me. "Sherlock! Can I sit here?"

"I have no opinion on the matter."

"I heard you met Sally."

"That was the African-descent, puffy hair, Gryffindor 2nd year…?"

"Yeah. She said you were creeping on her friend, Stella. Mind telling me why?"

It probably wouldn't hurt for Lestrade to know. He was pursuing law enforcement. I filled him in on the case. He took it better than I thought he would. I guess he's made of tougher stuff than he looks. "But wait, you figured all of this out on your own?"

"Have you not met Mycroft?" The two of them spent quite a while around each other. Suspicious amounts, if you asked me. "I'm his brother. You expect less?"

"I suppose not. I'm just surprised by smart people. And I know your brother is smart, but I wasn't sure about you. The train ride should've tipped me off. He calls you an idiot."

"I'm sure he does." The dinner arrived. A spinach bisque with cream cheese. It showed up on our desks like the food usually did on tables.

"But Sherlock, I need to tell a teacher!" Someone needs to know!"

"I don't have evidence. No one will believe me." I left out that I could use a pensive to show them my memory of the conversation with him, but everyone knows they can be tampered with. Possibly I could get one of the students who wanted to be a lawyer to help. Maybe one of the Homestucks…? Wasn't that the girl who's name I missed? The blind one? I didn't know.

Lestrade looked like he wanted to argue more, but instead shrugged. I kept eating the bisque in front of me. It was a rather good bisque.

"Sherlock! There you are!" It was Mycroft. How disappointing.

"What are your thoughts on the case?"

"I believe Egan has done it."

"Really? I think Stella. Care to make a bet, brother?"

"No."

"Come on now, it'll be fun!"

Instead of answering fully on, I flipped him off. Mycroft didn't seem to care, but Lestrade scolded me. "What's your problem?"

"Respect your brother!"

"No. Why should I?" I flipped him off too for good measure, then left. I didn't have to deal with him right now.

The common room was silent, everyone being at dinner. I went up to my dorm, hoping to be able to compose some. I didn't have a tune in mind, but if I had my violin I could at least try. Oh! I'd left it in the Ravenclaw dorm, under my bed. Damn. Hopefully Dean hadn't gotten to it. He seemed like he respected people's property, but I wasn't sure. I went out of the dorm, through the common room, and out the door.

I was about halfway there when Egan spotted me. I was petrified immediately. I suppose I should have been freaking out, but instead I was thinking about "oh, I should've been expecting him to catch his mistake and at least try to fix it." And now, bam. Here I was, getting dragged along through the 3rd floor corridor, down a trapdoor and into a dark space. I couldn't tell where I was after that, as I was given a blindfold by another person, who took my wand as well. This was just great, wasn't it. There was a whisper going around the room. It seemed like 2 voices, maybe 3. Whoever it was was good at whispering. But not quite good enough. There was one voice whisper-yelling at Egan, about "this wasn't the plan!"

Egan whisper-yelled back, "He caught onto me! I messed up! He was going to catch me if I didn't take action!"

"Maybe you deserved to be caught for being such and idiot."

"You guys do realize he can probably hear us, right?"

So there were 3 voices.

"Knock him out." That was the last thing I heard before I heard nothing at all.

I don't know for how long I was out, but when I woke up, I was tied to a chair, across from Egan, sitting at a table. My blindfold was gone, so I narrowed my eyes and tried to pretend to be asleep so I could figure out my situation. The other two voices were gone,and it was just the two of us. I had a bruise on my head, but was otherwise unharmed. Good. All clothes on. Also good. Nothing hurt where people without boundaries would make me. I sat as quietly as I could, evening out my breathing, but didn't hear anything. Egan looked at me curiously before deciding I was awake.

"Hello, Sherlock!" He was speaking as if we were out for an evening stroll, just running into each other. I kept pretending to be asleep. He didn't have bags under his eyes, but instead looked happy and well-rested. I think that means he was taking turns watching me. I didn't reply to him, instead he replied for me. "Hello, Egan!" It was a horrible imitation of my voice. I snapped not too long later.

"What do you want?"

"To compliment you," he said, emphasizing "compliment" in a way I did not enjoy. I raised an eyebrow.

"You may be into that sort of compliment, but I am not. Please let me leave."

"Oh, no! That isn't what I mean at all. Please get your mind out of the gutter. What I mean is, you figured it out!"

"You were the one who fucked up."

"Still…"

"If you wanted to compliment me on that, you could've told me somewhere else. Somewhere lighter, with other people."

"But Sherlock, it's too dangerous. I can't let you tell anyone else."

"What if I already have?"

"You haven't." Egan was still underestimating me! I almost scoffed. But this was odd… he didn't seem smart enough to be using these kinds of words, nor to think about this… I looked at his eyes. They were slightly blank. Was he under the influence of _Imperio_?

"But, Sherlock, there are multiple reasons. I want to play a game."

"What game?" I kept pretending I thought it was him. I would likely get more information if the controller didn't think I was on to them.

"A logic puzzle. There are 5 people. Each of them have a wand type, and each of them are students here in separate years. You will have one question before the riddle is spoken and 7 clues afterwards."

"What are the stakes?"

"Your question already! If you win, you go free. If you lose, well… Annabeth never did her job. She was supposed to kill her boyfriend! It would've been so much better from her, but I think you'll do."

I took a deep breath. This day was getting better and better. "Let's begin!"

Egan took up a piece of paper and started reading from it. "There were 5 corpses found on the ground, along with 5 wands. The years of the students were written on their bodies. They were one through five. There were also 5 students missing from school who were assumed to have died, and matched the corpses. They were Antilles, Lars, Tarkin, Darklighter, and Secura. The wands were dogwood, oak, ash, willow, and cherry. Match them. Your clues are: The youngest is Antilles. The second year owns the willow. The third year owns either the oak or the ash. The only owner of the dogwood is two years younger than Secura. Lars is one year younger than the owner of the oak. Darklighter does not own the willow. Finally, Secura, the owner of the oak, and the owner of the willow are all different people. You may begin."

He was continuously underestimating me! This took me no time at all. But I should use this to my advantage. "Your time is up. Answer."

I took a breath and recited, "Antilles owns the dogwood and is the 1st year. The 5th year is Darklighter, and he owns the oak. Secura is 3rd and owns the ash. Tarkin is 2nd and owns the Willow. Lars is in 4th and owns the cherry."

Egan looked surprised, but said "Correct."

"What happens now?"

"Another game. This time, the stakes are higher."

With a wave of his wand, I lost all senses and fell back into darkness.

I woke up a who knows how much later in an abandoned classroom. I was still tied up, but in a different chair. "This game is a treasure hunt. There is a person hidden somewhere in the school. You have 24 hours to find a place above where more animals than humans inhabit or…" He mimed an explosion with his hands and made a "boom" sound. "Good luck!"

He walked to the door and blasted my ropes. I grabbed my wand, on the table in front of me, and ran after him, but he was gone. I shot out of the room, which turned out to be the Divination classroom. The clock nearby told me it was almost 7. Class was about to start!

I had to be in class, mostly due to Mr. Pardo. He wouldn't let me off gently if he found out. I already seemed sexually promiscuous, and he seemed as if he didn't want any gay people. But while I was in class, I could try to figure out who was missing. They had to be someone I knew, at least because they would be slightly more important to me. Egan- or at least who controlled him-seemed to be a fan of importance.

And so, I went to History of Magic. John motioned that he wanted to talk to me, but I could fill him in on the way to Transfiguration. In the meantime, I had to figure out who had been taken. Everyone from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw was there. Could Egan have take my brother or Lestrade? I wasn't too fond of them, but it could've been them. My thoughts were interrupted by John. "Sherlock, it's time to go."

"Now, explain." John said once we got out the door.

"You were there for some of it." I started with meeting Egan, then getting kidnapped, then the game, and the new game.

"We have to tell a teacher!"

"John, that will get the girl killed!"

"At least have someone help!"

"Are you offering?"

"I-I guess!"

"Come on."

"What?"

"Let's go. Allons-y. There is someone hurting. We need to find a place with few humans."

"...I can't think of any. The forbidden forest maybe?"

"Maybe."

"Oh, you got an owl this morning. Not sure who it was from."

"Really? I…" A thought hit me. It made sense. Few people went to the Owlery on any given day and no one knew about the space above, a soundproof…

"Sherlock?"

"JohnwegottagoIknowwherethey'vebeenhidden."

"What?"

"There'saspaceabovetheOwleryeverythingelsefitsIknowwherethegirlishelpfindher."

John and I took off running. Well, I was running. John was trying his best to keep up, but his limp was getting to him a little. Screw class. We'd be fine. A few minutes later, we arrived at the Owlery. "How do we get in, Sherlock?"

"I don't know, try the ceiling." I jumped to try to poke the ceiling with my wand. John was a little too short to do so, and instead watched me warily.

It didn't take long for a staircase to descend from the ceiling tile. John seemed to back off after that. "Sherlock, I'm going to go get a teacher."

"You do that."

"Sherlock, come with!"

"We don't have time!"

"I'm going."

"Bye." I had to do this, with or without John. Someone's life was in the balance. So carefully, I went up the steps.

"Ah, you've arrived. That didn't take long." Egan was waiting in the dusty light. A girl was shaded behind him. I couldn't tell who she was, as Egan had put a bag over her head.

"Egan."

"You figured it out! I'm impressed."

"Really."

"I am! I suppose I'll let her go…"

I could hear the 'but' hanging in the air.

"But first, a game. You have a choice of two pills. One is poison, one is harmless. Choose." Damn. There was no difference! No smell, no size, no shape, no color, they were exactly alike. So I watched Egan. There was… Fear in his eyes. He didn't know either. The voices I heard were controlling him. I smiled. "You aren't as smart as you seemed."

"Oh?"

"You're working for someone, someone who doesn't keep you in the loop. Well, controlled, whether or not you consented in return for revenge on your rival for Annabeth.

It was Egan's turn to grin. "Choose, and we'll find out."

I took a deep breath. It was 50/50. Here we go. I grabbed a pill, and Egan took the other. We paced around each other like duelers at high noon. I was near the girl when I heard a small sound. She was awake! I hushed her, and stared back at Egan. "Ready, Sherlock?"

"Yes."

I brought the pill up to my lips. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. I was about to take the pill when a voice yelled "Obliviate!" I rushed over to Egan. "Who are you working for?" He returned to himself. Under his breath, he whispered a name.

"Moriarty."

"So you don't know who cast the spell?"

"I don't."

"Can you at least guess?"

"They had an excellent aim. Could've been a Quidditch player? Likely a chaser, although maybe not."

"Who do you think it was?"

John walked into the infirmary and it hit me. Who else would've been close enough to come as fast as the Obliviator did? "You know, it could've been anyone. Good aim isn't rare, so it doesn't matter. Bye!"

I walked out of the infirmary to talk to John. "Why Obliviate?"

"It was the first spell that came into my head."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you."

John started laughing.

"What?"

"Well, at home, I'd put this on a blog. My sister showed me blogs a while ago and I got hooked on them. Nothing exciting happens to me, but if anything mildly interesting does, I blog about it. This is the most exciting thing I've ever done."

"Do you have a phone?"

"Yeah, I keep it on me. Tick from the muggle world."

"We should go to Ravenclaw."

"Why?"

"They have a spell and wi-fi."

"Really?" We started heading over as I explained to John what was happening with the Ravenclaws and their wi-fi. I used my phone there as well, one of the few places I could.

When I got there, Kanaya was hanging off the top bunk of her bed- one of the several bunk beds in the room since there were so many Ravenclaw girls this year. She looked at me confused when I came in.

"Sherlock, you don't change until Sunday, right?"

"Yes, but I told John about the wi-fi. Can someone get his phone to work?" Kanaya came over and got his phone. "Hey, while you're here, do you want to hang around a bit?" Everyone was in the girl's room. The beds had been turned. It seemed like everyone had been sleeping there for awhile. It explained why they were all so tired over the past few days. Dean was on his phone, watching a movie with Cas. Ashley, Cat, and Calvin were all over by the closet, which seemed to have been turned into a snack bar. Ashmin, Roxy, Molly, Hamilton, Felipe, Jade, Cecil, Carlos, and Sollux were playing some card game.

"Do you guys want to play?"

"Sure. Deal us in."

"It's BS. It's a game about lying."

They finished their round, and the other 3 came over. Dean and Cas continued to watch whatever it was they were watching.

"Let's play, children." Ashley gave Jade the cards. She shuffled both her deck and Ashley's, creating a huge stack. She dealt out cards until none were left and then began the game. As it turned out, I was good at it. Reading people was a huge part of the game, and I just happened to be the best. Kanaya won, but she had the least cards and was lucky.

After that, we played a game called Spoons. John won that one. Several card games later, John and I headed back to the dorm. It was sunset, and had a symphony of colors outside. Pinks, oranges, and reds filled the hall. John was so lost in it, he nearly tripped over Mrs. Norris! We got lost in the halls, since I didn't know the way perfectly and John had no idea what was going on. By the time we got back to the dorm, it was late at night, and everyone was sleeping.

"Good night, Sherlock," John whispered as he got into bed.

I kept silent for a moment, then whispered back, "Good night, John."


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a few weeks and nothing new from "Moriarty." Egan had left school to go to St. Mungo's to see if he could recover from John's rather impressive Obliviate. Stella had forgiven me, but Sally hadn't. She and her boyfriend, Anderson, were becoming good friends with Lestrade, who may or may not be going out with my brother. It was quite the talk of the school. Irene and Harry seemed happier than ever, and Mary finally broke up with Sam. That was good for John, who asked her out immediately as soon as she was over him. She said yes, unsurprisingly. The first 2 Hogsmeade trips were… something, but something I didn't know. I only went to get a new quill and some materials for a costume I was making. I was planning to go to the Hallowe'en dance as Jack Sparrow- all hallow's eve was a rather childish activity, but I was a child. And it was fun! This year we were having a thrilling party. They even got the Weird Sisters to play. According to Chuck, who was in on it, there were many different games and activities planned.

Unplanned, John and Mary were going as pirates as well. I thought that was a little suspicious, but it would at least give me someone to hang around without standing out. The Homestucks with 6-letter names were going as "trolls", whatever those were. The others were going as "god tiers." God, they were so weird.

Ashmin, Ashley, and Molly were going as the three sisters from Tales of Beedle the Bard , while Calvin, Cecil, and Carlos were the brothers- their "Death" was Emma. Felipe and Cat decided to go as Elder Gods, which as far as I could tell involved lots of face paint and tentacles covered in eyes. They did look fancy, though. Cas and Dean were going as an angel and a demon, while Dean's brother Sam- the kid I'd met on the train car- was going as a "hunter" or something.

However… no one was happy now. Mr. Pardo was giving a long speech as we sat at our desks, refusing to let us talk. Some of the 2nd year Slytherins found that out the hard way and were banned from going to the dance.

"... and finally, no homosexual couples dancing. I suppose I can't stop you from attending, but if you insist on dancing, you will be escorted out."

If we were quiet before, there was no noise now. Dead silence met that statement, especially from the Homestucks and Chaos. They were well known for being LGBT+ by the whole school (probably why I was let in, aromantic and asexual) and did not take well to homophobia. The few trans students (surprisingly few, if you asked me, but it was possible some weren't out or had already transitioned by magic) had already been asked to not attend the dance, but after they brought it up with Dumbledore, he overruled that. But no homosexual couples? Dumbledore had gone away for one reason or another, and instead, our "only Ministry-approved" teacher had taken control. And now Irene and Harry wouldn't be allowed to dance. There was no uproar at that statement. Everyone did want to go. Instead, I saw the furious faces of the kids I sat with. Karkat, John, and Meenah made eye contact with Cat, Felipe, Ashley, and Ashmin, and they all nodded in sync. This would be rather interesting. I had already planned to come, but if I hadn't wanted to before, I certainly did now. It might not be a full-scale rebellion, but something was going to happen.

Okay, if I was being honest, it was a full-scale rebellion about to happen. The rage in their eyes showed it.

Finally, Mr. Pardo finished speaking. We were all done with our food at this point, and dessert was only requested for a few people. The two gay groups rushed out together, likely making up a fifth of the whole school population. I planned to join them in a moment, but the "popular" kids- somehow not Chaos- the Gryffindors and stuck-up Hufflepuffs, mostly- although some of the Slytherins who were raised that way joined in- nodded in approval. Not Mary, John, or Dean, but many of the rest. Were they really that homophobic? I motioned for them to come over to see me.

They abandoned their desks and walked over to the empty area where I was and where the Gays™ had just left from. We left and went to find the group. I had gotten into the group chat a few weeks prior, so I texted them as to where they were.

Jade told me they were at the room of requirement.

"just dont tell anyone, okay?"

We headed that way. I assumed John and Dean were okay since John spent much of his time with the Ravenclaws-as did Dean- but Mary? She was probably fine. I double-checked. Jade seemed a little unhappy, but let her come as well. We arrived a few moments later. The more talkative students were in the middle of a circle of tables, everyone listening.

It was Karkat leading the plans. As was typical of him, he was yelling and cursing up a storm.

"ALL RIGHT, NOOKSUCKERS. LISTEN UP. WE HAVE A DICK ON OUR RADARS. A HOMOPHOBE. AS SOMEONE IN A LOVING GAY RELATIONSHIP AND SOMEONE WHO KNOWS ALL OF YOU ARE GAY AS HELL, I'M NOT LETTING THIS HAPPEN. SO WE'RE REBELLING. BE AS GAY AS YOU CAN. IF YOU HAVE NO PLANS ALREADY FOR COSTUMES, PLEASE COORDINATE TO GO AS A RAINBOW. MAKE HIM SEE YOU. MAKE HIM SEE HOW MANY OF US THERE ARE. THOSE WHO DO HAVE COSTUMES PLEASE MAKE THEM AS OBVIOUSLY GAY AS YOU FUCKING CAN. THAT LITTLE FUCKER ISN'T GOING TO GET THE BEST OF US, OR GET AWAY WITH THIS. LET'S FUCKING GO."

Vriska laughed at his speech. "We get it. Be openly and o8viously gay, but don't say the word. Make him pay." I wasn't sure how she managed to say the 8's out loud, but you don't question a Serket. She and her sister were terrifying, and possibly had the Imperious curse in their blood- they could manipulate people better than anyone I'd ever seen.

The students with no plan met up in the center of the room. I decided to make my dreadlock wig as rainbow as I could with sparkles. Several students decided to simply add rainbow eyeshadow to their costume. Kanaya was with the students in the center, asking who wanted to be what color or what they wanted to be. She liked sewing rather a lot and would be excellent at making a group rainbow or other pride flag costume set. There were still two weeks until the dance. We would be well prepared. And we were coming for blood. I was caught up in this storm, but I didn't mind very much. I was ready for a full-scale rebellion. Times of stress often brought out what you cared about most.

I helped a few people with their costumes, mostly giving Kanaya and her sister Porrim measurements of people they didn't have time to get to. It was a rather nice bonding experience. People who could sew had gotten help from those with good magic to replicate sewing machines and fabric, while those who weren't good at either started drawing costumes and getting nail polish and other makeup. Everyone had 3 things to do for the next few weeks. Mycroft and I researched spells to forgo sleep for the ones in charge, who were too busy planning. My Ravenclaw dorm was now reserved for planners and costumes, partly since everyone with a mind could get into the common room, and partly because it was mostly the Ravenclaws anyways. We would've used the Room of Requirement, but we decided against it after we saw some of the more homophobic Gryffindors were seen by it.

I was unsurprised by the people in the group, but I was surprised by the people who weren't. Jim seemed like exactly the person who would be, based on what I saw of his underwear. He wore his pants low down, exposing the brand I wore that was worn mostly by twinks. At least, when you could see it, it signified that. At least, according to the internet. I hadn't had much interaction with the Muggle world since my pureblood parents were slightly anti-muggle. They wouldn't mind if I married a Muggle-born, but they would if I married a muggle.

At around 4 on Hallowe'en, once our classes were over, we all met again in the Room of Requirement. People put on their costumes behind the dressing screens that were, as was expected, rainbow. The room may have just been doing what it had to, but I still felt it supported us. I already had on most of mine, having changed in the Ravenclaw dorms. I had a steady enough hand, so I helped to paint some people's nails. I didn't paint my own since the design was a little too complicated to do on my own hands, but it was beautiful. Rainbow shades and lots of glitter. The people who always put makeup on were doing their best to get everyone with rainbow eyeshadow and had put on lipstick themselves. Boys who would usually never have heard of a contour were watching YouTube tutorials and making their faces into masterpieces. Even our classical stories had earth-tone rainbow dresses. The only people really wearing black were our "Elder Gods" who were covered in sparkles and were putting rainbow paint as eyeshadow on their "eyes" on their tentacles. We were a sight, I was sure, but we'd look amazing. People with lighter hair in their costumes had dyed them as best they could different colors. Some even did it permanently, so every day they had class with Pardo he had to see the rainbow.

Janelle Monae, Panic! At The Disco, and Fall Out Boy were playing. Although some songs could easily be seen as hetero, I could hear the gay. It was surprisingly inspiring.

Then, from all across the room, a deep voice said, "TASTE THE RAINBOW, MOTHERFUCKERS!"

… Was that a vine reference? But whatever. That meant it was time! We wrapped ourselves in Weasley's Instant Darkness Powder and made our way to the great hall. It was beautifully dark in there, even without the powder in the way. Pumpkins were everywhere, candles floated from the ceiling. There was a huge feast lined up as a buffet. And now, there was a tastefully late cloud of darkness. Professor Lupin was on our side, as was his husband, Sirius. They had called in some favors (from some old friends who excelled at Charms) to cast a spotlight on us in all the colors and glitter, also taking away the powder.

We made sure the cloud had everyone's attention before Felipe and Cat stepped out. It would take everyone a minute to see the rainbow, instead of just the black of their costumes. They sent up a flare and the lights went on.

And there we all stood. Gay as hell and proud of it. Even Mary and John- who I was pretty sure were just here to ally- were standing tall, rainbows all around. The look on Mr. Pardo's face was beautiful. It changed from confusion to shock to horror slowly as he processed what was happening in front of him. I saw her right before she showed up- Rita Skeeter was there, taking photos of us for the Daily Prophet. Luckily for me, Mycroft was here, and my parents wouldn't care as much.

Some students split up at that, not wanting to be outed by her. But quickly enough, we all dispersed. The lights went away and we returned to how we were. A few students were pulled out by Skeeter and quickly directed her to Karkat, Felipe, Cat, and Vriska, the masterminds of the spectacle.

I made my way over to the buffet. Mr. Pardo was furious but knew he could do nothing about it. Students were dancing. Because of how Kanaya designed the costumes and how they ended up assigned, it was difficult to gender the students dancing. Lestrade swept my brother away into the waltz being played by the band, which was supportive as far as I could tell. Mycroft was in a suit with a very long tail, making it almost a dress when he spun around. Mr. Pardo was unlikely to catch them as a gay couple. Several "straight" couples (made up of bi, pan, trans, and ace people mostly) were disguised as people of the same gender- false alarms. He couldn't ban us all from the dance and he would never be able to tell if we were or weren't breaking his rule. After all, he never said anything about cross-dressing! Then the door to the Grand Hall opened again. Lupin and Sirius! They each had a date, although their dates were their daughters. Sirius looked like he was considering flipping Mr. Pardo off.

It all went well until Lupin sent his daughters out to his office to sleep and Sirius swept him up into a dance. A few of the kids tried to stop them, but Sirius didn't understand until it was too late. Pardo shooed Skeeter out and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Everyone stop! Now, all those who did not participate in… this, please leave."

Oh shit. I debated leaving, but I didn't. A few of us did and managed to get out with the "good" kids before getting whatever punishment Pardo was about to give us. Yet again, the door opened. Ministry officials came in, trapping the rest of us. Most of the Homestucks had made it out, and many of the others had too. However, all the Ravenclaws were left from across the grades- whether or not they were normally with Chaos, all of Ravenclaw had joined in and we'd already had a reasonable reputation for being the gayest house- were left, along with Karkat, Vriska, Latula, Aziraphale, Crowley, Rose, Dirk, Dave, Jake, and like 5 of the Ketarkuses. Rose stood next to Kanaya, who stood next to Vriska, and we all formed a line. Felipe and Cat were shoved out in front. They faced Mr. Pardo, who was now backed by the Ministry. Lupin and Sirius were up by them too.

There was dead silence. Just an intense staredown. Felipe and Cat, the only two kids, in this staredown, were terrified. They were nearly shaking. They could be arrested. Then Cat spoke.

"Let the 3rd years and below leave. They have no part in this. They got here from peer pressure."

Mr. Pardo turned to face the rest of the Ministry members. One nodded and Pardo motioned for them to leave. A few of the others did as well, but mostly we all stayed. One 1st year tried, but a third year shoved them out. Our linked arms still stood strong. I had to stay to watch how this played out.

After all the kids had gone, the silence returned.

Finally, the woman who had motioned for Pardo to let the kids go stepped ahead.

"So other than you two, who else was in charge?" Her voice was sickly sweet, contradicting her toad-like demeanor. Felipe looked like he was about to crack, but Cat managed to keep her cool. "It was just us."

The woman hummed. "I see. Now, you ignored a Ministry decree. You organized illegally these students to protest a reasonable decree. Ojas, Brazeau? Take them away."

Two of the larger members of the opposition grabbed at them. "Now you find out what happens to those who try to fight back. And don't even think Dumbledore will come to get you. Do you even know what he's been doing? I can't get into the details here, but let me say, it is highly illegal. Maybe you'll see him! You aren't going to Azkaban, don't worry, but your trial won't take place for a long time. And what lawyer would stand for you? Certainly not one you could afford."

Felipe tapped on his back in fast morse code. I recognized it as "T-E-R-E-Z-I". Was that one of the Homestucks? Probably. I made a note of it.

Cat spoke up again. "You can arrest us, but not the rest of them. We are the only ones guilty at the moment, you can't arrest them. Let them leave."

Everyone turned to look at her. That was brash. "Miss Melane, you've already made a lot of demands, I don't think you can make-"

"She's right," Felipe spoke up. He was shaking, and his voice reflected it, but he stood tall.

Lupin agreed too. The woman sneered but eventually said, "Fine. Get the rest of them out of here."

Sirius ran to corral us all out of the hall, and we were shoved back to our common rooms. Sirius told me the exchange program was over. Cas, already in there, heard. He let out a groan of disappointment. It was Dean, wasn't it? He, Cecil, Sollux, Carlos, and Calvin had made it out with the third years. They were pretty small, after all.

"What happened?" were the first words out of their mouths, a good question. Since Ashley and Ashmin were too busy crying to reply, I tried my best to sum it up.

"Cat and Felipe got arrested for being bi smartasses. Dumbledore has been too. Probably also for being a gay dumbass. Now the Ministry's in charge of the school. So pack your smartassery and hope for the best, because it's going to be a long year."


	6. Chapter 6

A fortnight had passed since the Taken, as we had taken to calling them had been- well, taken. They had become something of a martyr in the school, or at least within the community of the Ones Who Weren't Homophobic Dickwads™ (OWWHD™). I wish I was kidding when I said that, but no, that was what the Ravenclaws made up. And said. Out loud. Specifically Kanaya, who had gotten angry since Hallowe'en. She was going to ask out Rose, and now couldn't. Rose's sister, Roxy, said Rose would be fine with that, but everyone who had been left during the arrest was banned from visiting others dorms and Hogsmeade. We were still in class, but all the professors had an "assistant" who was Ministry-approved. I stayed low-profile, but the more rebellious kids used me for information. I didn't mind since it got me info and helped stick it to the corrupt Ministry. It wasn't a full-on hellscape, but we all knew one more event and it would be. If Sirius came back, and he and Lupin did anything drastic, he'd be fired, and the teachers who tried to protest would be too. And I was not ready to say goodbye to the best DADA teacher I'd ever had. Hell, the best teacher.

I hadn't realized that Dave and Karkat were dating until they were forced apart. The tables had appeared again- I wasn't sure where the desks had gone to, probably storage somewhere- since Hallowe'en and there was a strict rule that anyone even thought to be dating be at least a person apart. Not that it mattered in most cases since most of the relationships were cross-house.

I hadn't been able to talk to John. Cat had left behind her notes on how to allow for phones and wifi, and the first thing we did was go make Slytherin tech-enabled. Texting back and forth, we sorted people into OWWHD™ and Them. The Homestucks and Chaos had gotten rid of the already fuzzy line between the two of them. But after we enabled Slytherin and multiplied them phones, an attendant was installed for Ravenclaw. I should've expected. But we had plans to sneak out tonight and get everyone in contact. Well, the Hufflepuffs would have to wait. But we could sneak them a note later.

Sollux had snuck down to the house elves in the kitchen and asked them to give notes to John and Emma tonight at dinner. We'd send the notes to Dean so that we were able to have them with us. The plan was simple.

At 11, Calvin, Sollux, Roxy, Kanaya, and Cas would be levitated over by the others, one by one. John would have left the window open and would be keeping the others in his dorm entertained- except Dean, who would be helping them. He'd bring out the notes and help them cast the spell over the towers. John, Mary, and Dean would spend the time between the end of supper and 11 making sure the common room was exempt from the spell in case someone tried to use a Muggle item in there. Then, as soon as they were done, the group chat would get a text saying so, and we'd levitate the 5 back over. Numbers would be exchanged, and phones multiplied. Then we'd have communication. "We should be in and out in half an hour," I said.

Since Cat and Felipe had left, their friends were angry but did less thinking. I'm not sure why. Possibly energy was more devoted to figuring out creative ways to kill Pardo and take over the Ministry. But I was the one developing all these plans.

Instead of having a giant group chat, we all got an app called Discord on our phones. It worked on wifi and had both text and voice chat. You could see who was on and off. The owner of the "server" was Calvin, who had introduced it to everyone. I doubted anyone of Them would get on, since they were rather anti-muggle, mostly. A few American transfer students, Muggle-born and pure alike, were homophobic, but it was unlikely they'd brought their phones. Only the people the 7th year Ravenclaws deemed trustworthy were allowed to know the wifi was even here, even though they weren't the ones who set it up.

Since the attendant was downstairs in the common room, we had recruited the 1st and 2nd years to talk to them about future careers in law enforcement. Speaking of, I got in contact with Terezi. Her mom was a lawyer, and would definitely work the case for free. She was talking to Cat and Felipe now, in theory. Terezi had gone home after Hallowe'en since her mom lived a few towns away from Hogsmeade and talked to her about the case. But her mom was a pure-blood and didn't have a phone. So no one knew what was going on down in London.

My phone buzzed in it's alarm pattern. The 1st years better be doing their job. I opened the window and motioned for the others to go through. First across, Cas. He made it across safely, knocking on the window to get Dean's attention. I moved him back around until I saw that it was Dean looking. He gave the signal and I put cas in. Ashmin took Sollux, and Ashley put Roxy over. I picked up Kanaya and sent her over and Calvin was about to climb out the window when we heard a knock at our door. Quickly, I shut the window. I pretended to be sitting and watching the stars. Calvin did his best to act asleep and Ashley and Ashmin grabbed a deck of cards.

I got up and opened the door. "Sorry, did they wake you?" I gestured at Ashley and Ashmin, who looked guilty. We'd gone over this situation just in case of an issue.

The attendant, Joseph, looked at us suspiciously, but said, "They must've. Awfully loud for playing cards though."

"Oh, we'll get them to quiet down. Don't worry about it. Why don't you two go back to your dorm?"

They looked up at me, but picked up the cards and headed over.

"Sorry about that."

Joseph gave me another suspicious look but went back down. As soon as I heard the tell-tale sound of his feet down two floors, I let out a breath of relief. Calvin got back up.

"Do you think they need my help over there? Or do you think they got it?"

"I don't know." I walked over to the window, trying to see if Dean was over there. He was. I mouthed at him, "Do you need Calvin over there?"

As far as I could tell, Dean did. I sent him over quickly, asking Calvin to explain what happened and to communicate how to move on with what happened. He got over safely. I watched them through my window.

They cast the spell slower than I would've liked, but there was no way they could do it faster. After ten minutes, I got a text. I looked over. Dean had opened the window again. I opened mine and we levitated them back over, slowly. Finally, we had communication! Next week was when we planned to hook up Hufflepuff. The first thing I did was text, John. I hadn't been able to talk to him for a week now since the classroom attendants had tried to ban talking in class that wasn't necessary. He texted back as soon as he got back up and in his bed. He drew the curtains, I assumed, and said, "I'm fine."

"Dear God, this last week has been horrid! How are you and Mary?"

"We're doing fine, thanks. But I'm more worried about Ravenclaw. I've heard it's worse over there from Dirk. He's been in and out of your common room, somehow. I'm not sure."

"It's not great. I'm pretty sure that tomorrow, the girls and guys will be separated. Which will make next week's mission difficult. Maybe you and Dean can help with that?"

"I'll see what I can do. Shit I think someone saw the light under here gtg bye"

I breathed a sigh of relief. I'd been doing that a lot lately. John was fine. A little annoyed, but alive. And so was Mary! And they were happy together!

...I hated to admit it, even to myself, but I thought I might be developing affection for John. But only in a friend way. Nothing more. Nothing like Dean and Cas. Hey, how did their reunion go anyways?

You listened around you to Cecil and Carlos drill Cas on what happened.

"So, did you have a reunion kiss when you finally saw your true love again?"

"Cecil! No, I didn't. And he's not my 'true love'. We're just friends. He has a girlfriend! Lisa!"

"Guys, just go to sleep," Calvin whined. I had gotten what I wanted to know, so I agreed. They turned over if the rustling of blankets was any indication. I did as well but made sure to watch out my window in case anything went wrong in the Gryffindor dorm room. Dean was finally laying down, which meant that everyone else was too.

From in my dorm, I heard a rustle of sheets. It sounded like it came from where Cecil sleeps. Footsteps padded across the room for a moment, before the sound of another set of sheets moving reached my ears. I smiled. They were rather cute as a couple. And at least they didn't have sex while I was in the room.

Also, they were 14. I hoped they didn't have sex in general. But either way, two sets of breaths evened out over there as they drifted off to sleep.

******

The next morning, I was the last one up. Roxy was in with me, lying down on the end of Sollux's bed. They were on two computers, laptops, if I remembered correctly. I sat up and checked the time. 3 hours since I fell asleep? I must've been really tired last night. All insomnia jokes aside, what were Roxy and Sollux doing?

I asked them such, and Roxy was the one to reply.

"When Sollux was down by the kitchens last night, he planted a long-range magic Bluetooth hotspot. We're trying to remotely activate it, which isn't what you're supposed to do, really. And also, we have to find a way to get in contact with Emma so she can get a spell set up for us."

"A few of the other Hufflepuffs are with us, but she's the only one that has a phone at the moment. Unlike us, the others don't even bother bringing them. So she's going to multiply hers temporarily for everyone who needs one. Some of the others are supportive, but they're scared they'll be arrested," Sollux lisped. "Since they were taken, everyone's been following the rules. Except, of course, the ones who don't have a fuck left to give. So the ones who don't have a phone will probably distract the attendant while she sets up the spell. The tech's already enabled with the "hotspot" so we're good there.

"Then next week, we show up- well, I'll get to that later, but- and Emma starts casting the specifying spell. But now onto who's going. Since it's down by the kitchens and takes longer than my thing the other day, we should send the less suspicious people. You have any ideas?"

I mulled it over for a moment. The Gryffindors (Karkat excluded) were pretty unsuspicious. The Slytherins were closer to the kitchens, but at the same time, were probably under a little scrutiny- wait a minute. There was breathing at the door. Male, likely, or just breathing faster than normal. I motioned for silence and pointed at the door. Roxy got on it and swung it open, right into the face of our loiterer.

Dirk got a faceful of door, but still kept a sheepish look on his face. "Sorry, you were in the middle of something and I didn't want to interrupt."

Roxy gave a happy gasp. "Hey! It's my bro-cuz-bestie! I was sure you could get past Joseph. But how? And I know you've been doing this for a while, but now I'm curious."

Dirk bit his lip. "Well, this time it's different because I'm interacting with the suspects. So right now, I don't have a lot of time. Dave is downstairs pretending to be Rose, who will be found in her dorm later." That was odd. Although the shades he wore didn't give much away, if I didn't know better, he was giving off Dave's tell. Well, they were quadruplets. It wasn't too unusual.

"Meanwhile, I'm up here for that plan. The Slytherins can do it, but we need the notes. That's why I'm here. I would've been the distraction, but we need the attention away from Slytherin." Then why have Dave as Rose? Not you or Roxy? But I kept my thoughts to myself.

"Can you make a copy of the notes?"

Well, even though their plan was a little suspicious, I was inclined to believe them. Roxy was already on it, gemino out of her mouth before I could get my wand.

He grabbed the notes and ran back out. "I'll see you later," he said on his way down. "Once we get communicated, it's gay time!"

He didn't mean go time. He meant the time of the gays. That was a pretty good pun. I heard wands fire downstairs. Right, the Dave thing.

Cas and I scurried down to see if we could help. But we didn't need to. Dave, dressed as a pretty good Rose- even the contours of her face were correct, she probably helped him on that-was handling Joseph with nigh-unrivaled expertise. Spell after spell- nonverbal, weirdly enough- was landing, and even though Joseph was (in theory) an Auror, his most impressive shield spell was burst through.

I saw Dirk open the door and leave, giving what I assumed to be a signal to Dave.

Dave turned around, almost to leave, but saw Kanaya. I was assuming, that dressed as his sister, he might have a message for her. But no, he simply spun her around and kissed her deeply. Then, he ripped off his wig and wiped off his makeup, throwing on his trademark shades. He left the purple contacts in, not having a place to take them off, stunned Joseph, and ran out. He didn't need to stun Joseph though. The whole room was stunned by what just happened. Then Roxy brought Kanaya upstairs and slowly, we all went back to our rooms.

******

That night, the Discord chatroom lit up with questions. At dinner, word had spread about what happened. Mr. Pardo wasn't even there, likely interviewing the Slytherins about what they'd seen. And now, I was in my own room, and there were no girls over. Our room had been brought back to normal now, ever since Joseph had banned sleepovers. And visits that didn't have to do with school. Hamilton and Kanaya had their computers open, and I wasn't sure, but I was pretty sure that none of the other girls had theirs open. We didn't over here. As soon as Dave's username popped up in the voice chat, everyone got in, screaming questions at him. He, Dirk, and Rose went around and muted everyone. I hoped the Gryffindors had headphones in, or something because this was going to be loud.

Rose spoke first. "To start, I want to apologize. To Kanaya, in specific. Hopefully, you'll forgive me. I love you. So much. Everyone else, sorry for the confusion. It was a little necessary."

"And Roxy? No apologies for you. You just got fucking pranked," Dave said, an obvious smirk on his face even through the chat.

"For those of you who missed it, somehow, what happened obviously was Dirk and Dave broke into the Ravenclaw common room. Dirk went up to talk, while Dave- dressed as me- created a distraction. Then, he swept Kanaya off her feet, kissed her, and took off his disguise."

"But wait, there's more. Instead of just one dupe, we got two. Actually, way more than that. But that's Dirk's story. The point is, Rose was dressed as me, dressed as herself. A Mobius double reacharound." Dave was obviously very satisfied with they pulled that off.

Dirk's voice-thingy lit up. "And in case someone was listening, Dave pretended to be me, and did a hell of a job. Hal and I-" that was their brother, but not Rose's, a little younger- I should really just review them all once this is over. "-snuck down to Slytherin and dressed up as Rose and Dave respectively. So in other words, one hell of a confusing and likely unnecessary act that worked nonetheless.

He unmuted everyone but didn't need too. Everyone was silent. Then Roxy said, "I fucking love having people who look the same in my family."

I wasn't sure I had the whole story, but what I was pretty sure had happened was their parents had given birth to quadruplets and split up, Strider-dad taking Dave and Dirk, Lalonde-mom taking Rose and Roxy. Strider-dad remarried to Nepeta's mom, but then she died, and he got remarried one more time. I didn't know much about who he was remarried too, but I did know that they adopted Hal- 9 at the time, while the others were 11-, now a second-year Slytherin.

He didn't know until his wedding, but a few years before, Lalonde-mom had married the sibling of the person he married. This made for a very confusing timeline, and an awkward second year at school once they figured out the truth. First year, Roxy had had a huge crush on Dirk. Then they were cousins, and that was a little weird. Then third year, the full truth came out. But everyone forgave Roxy. Even if it was really weird.

It was all really fucked up. But for today's escapade, the benefits were that they all looked alike.

While I was thinking over this, everyone had left the chat, questions answered and reactions taken in. But from the other room, when Roxy's username went into "offline" I heard a loud "Yes!" from the room next to me and a slightly quieter, agitated, "fuck" from Kanaya and Roxy respectively.

But that still meant that the Strilondes were going to be in trouble. Because even though our current teachers were homophobic dumbasses, they weren't as stupid as we thought. But there would be some time, and tonight Hufflepuff would be connected. I hoped they'd gotten through to Emma about the change. But still, I had to give a prayer for my group. God being real or not, these dumbasses would need all the help they could get.

******

When I got up at 3 AM, I had a text from Emma. So that had worked.

I threw myself out of bed. I didn't need to scheme anymore. And since we were all in contact, this Moriarty would probably be back on his game. I was pretty sure he was supportive of us, although kidnapping was a thing he did. But whatever. Now I was back too. Since Slytherin was under closer scrutiny, I could make it to the library via the passage. I did have class today, but I didn't care. I could check records for a "Moriarty" if that was even our villain's name, but at least find out if it was stolen from a former student.

The first thing I did was make sure Madam Pince was out of the library. She slept on the other side of the building, so it was pretty likely she wasn't here yet. I grabbed the student records with "m" names and put them near the entrance to the passage. Authors too, any named Moriarty? A quick locating spell showed three results. I took the entire collection of Laura (both of the Lauras), Brian, and Liane Moriarty's books the library had. Although most of the school was rather against muggles, we had nearly all the books the muggle world did thanks to an anonymous donor about 10 years ago. The other books… they would take longer, time I didn't really have. But maybe I could do another locating spell for the word within a book?

It took me another 5 minutes to get it right, but eventually, the right combo of words got me a pulse of light around the library. I could've just done that on the folders, but it was too late now. A few books glowed. One was called "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac. I'd never read it. It didn't seem super good.

A few hours later, I'd poured over the student records and given up. Moriarty was unlikely to be an anagram, I'd tried all of the combos and none of them seemed like names. Then again, who would end up with a last name that could be translated to "to die was an art"?

I flipped through the books, paying little attention to the plots. The characters didn't seem suspicious, nor did they have any connection. Several of the books simply mentioned it as a place, and one mentioned it as a band. But the band didn't have many songs, and none of them seemed to relate to this person at all.

I was just chasing a red herring. Of course, Moriarty was their actual name. They must've lied to get into the school. I still didn't know if they were a student or a teacher either. Great.

I walked out of the hidey-hole. I was greeted by some first years, already back from class. Damn. I'd get dinner, but I'd probably be questioned. I doubted I'd missed anything important. Other than John. I'd have to tell him about this new realization somehow.

The only question was how?


	7. Chapter 7

The obvious answer was to call him. At dinner, I got a few weird glances from the others, but it didn't matter much. I'm sure I was asked if I was sick, but I was too busy trying to get John's attention. I was nearly certain he knew Morse code, so if I could blink a message- time for the call- at him, he wouldn't be stuck with the others. But he was staring at Mary most of the time. Only near the end did I get his attention.

Instead of blinking, I just waited for the rush of kids and went to talk to him in person. "Listen, I'm going to call you tonight at nine. Wear headphones. There's been a development on the Moriarty situation."

John blinked a moment. He hadn't remembered. I rolled my eyes. "Remember when I got kidnapped at the beginning of the year?"

His eyes lit up with recognition. "How did I manage to forget that?"

"You're simply too interested in Mary. Now, I need to go."

"Wait!" He ran up to me. "We have Astronomy tonight. You can tell me then." He must've seen my grimace.

"Do you not like Astronomy?"

"No! It's useless! Who cares what's up there! There is no proof that it has any use for future-telling, so what does it matter?"

John looked at me. "You can use magic, and you're telling me this is too much magic for you?"

I stared right back. "It's idiotic. But I'll go, if only to fill you in on what happened.

"Hey, what did happen today? You weren't in most of your classes."

"Research. That's part of what I was going to tell you about."

I'm sure he said something, but I was already on my way to the common room. My brain was going a hundred miles per hour, working on phrasings. No useful clues, but maybe people who didn't have last names in the roster?

I wasn't sure. And without that, I wouldn't know them. Maybe John would. But I'd seen all the names on there…

When I got to Astronomy, Molly was waiting for me. "Sherlock! I wanted to introduce you to my boyfriend. I know you've met him before. But anyway, Jim, say hi!"

"Hi." Jim was a lot shyer this time around. He'd seemed pretty headstrong. Maybe I was just not paying attention the first time. But it didn't really matter. He was very gay. He was wearing Muggle clothing, unusual for a pureblood, but his pants hung low enough to show he was a gay twink.

That was one of the more interesting things within the Muggle world. Their fashion could often tell you far more than their face or speech. Wizards just went "pretty" and bought on impulse. There was consideration of price, of course, but there was no "this piece of clothing will signify to those in on it that I am a lesbian because it's flannel, as long as I don't wear it with cowboy boots, at least cowboy boots that aren't white".

Jim and Molly left me alone to go listen to Professor Sinistra, so I grabbed John and brought him to the back of the crowd. The Hufflepuffs usually minded their own business, so I did my best to only speak within their earshot.

"Do you remember when I told you about the last coherent word Egan said to me?"

"... sort of? Wasn't it like Noriartis or something?"

"Moriarty."

"Whatever." Everyone was tired during Astronomy usually, so John's slightly snappy mood wasn't unsurprising.

"He's nowhere. There are a few names, but they're entirely unrelated. The person doesn't exist."

"So maybe it's a thing."

I blinked in surprise. It could be! But that was who Egan was working for… Maybe a group of people? All called Moriarty? Or a temple? John was pretty smart when tired. I told him so. He must've thought I was insulting him while fully awake but didn't act on it. Instead, he asked, "Why me though? You can figure this out on your own, can't you?"

What? "You saved my life! We make a great team. I need a partner, anyways. Don't you want to figure this out?"

John thought it over. In the weak moonlight, I could barely see his face, but it straightened out as he reached a conclusion.

"Sure." It was said with an air of tiredness, but I made a mental note of that victory. The one person who liked me for who I was and not just the fact I was there and lonely was now my partner in deduction! Yes!

I was starting to see what Mycroft had meant. I was also starting to doubt I was fully ace… Oh god, John was beautiful. But I wasn't usually attracted to people. Ever. This was a new experience. But he was dating Mary. And I could put aside my emotions forever if I needed to. It was likely just a short infatuation from a growing body.

But that wasn't important. What was was that now I had someone to fall back on. A source of information. Someone secure.

When the class was over, I pulled him aside for a moment. "Go to the library. Please. Go by the student records cabinet. I need to show you something."

And before he could respond, I ducked down and into the small crowd. I'd show him the passage and the little room. That was, he could see my thought process more spread out and understand it. It would all make sense that way.

I should've given him a time. It was approaching 2 AM and he wasn't there. Was he not going to show up? Great. Maybe he'd just been tired. But Astronomy was over 5 hours ago. Not nearly as late. I expected him to show up around 10… odd. Well, there was no use waiting here. Well, I could. There was no point in not. In the meantime, I could write out that potions essay. It wasn't difficult, just time-consuming. I Lumosed my wand and began writing.

3 came and went and was followed by 4. Still no John. Several sightings of Mrs. Norris, but no people.

Around 6 I gave up and snuck back into my common room, past Joseph. He wasn't a good Auror. I wasn't entirely sure how he got his job, being tired and unable to even fight off a student, albeit a mad one. I was reasonably sure I could beat Rose if I put my mind to it, but she was very strong.

I crawled into bed, then got right out and got changed. It was nearly 7, the passage longer than it seemed and sneaking up 7 floors more difficult than I planned. I wasn't sure how Joseph had managed not to notice the passage yet, but I wasn't planning on looking this gift horse in the mouth. It was pretty useful.

Joseph was easy to deduce. He was rich and pampered. He loved his lifestyle. He wasn't happy about being sent to babysit. He would rather be back at the office with his girlfriend who he was hiding from his wife. He had two kids and a dog, if the hair on his robe was a dog. It was the right length, and he smelled like he had a dog on him, but it could've been a cat. My nose wasn't the most well trained for this type of situation.

Eventually, everyone got up and headed down to the great hall. Somehow, despite all the attendants, Terezi had made her way over to the Ravenclaw table. She spoke in a rather annoying voice, but I paid attention to what she said.

"She took the case. Rights have been violated. Hopefully, we can get past on ex-post facto law. She wants some witnesses. I figured you guys would be the best. The trial takes place over the next summer. Until then, they're stuck in jail. If you want to be a witness and have a good enough recall of the events, we'll use your memory. I'll need a letter to get you connected to her. Her name is Neophyte Redglare Pyrope. Send an owl." She turned towards Ashley and Ashmin. "She can also send them a care package, and maybe get in that mirror I know you have. They're kept together, not old enough to need to be separated. It's actually a pretty nice place they're in. I went to visit over the weekend. They say hi by the way. And 'fuck Pardo and the entire goddamn Ministry one of us is going to kill the other in here and be arrested for murder and also the other is the only one keeping me sane' so that's something. Anyways, I gotta go before I get caught." She sniggered as she walked away.

That made a lot of sense. But wasn't ex-post facto American? Whatever. They probably insisted on staying together- in love or not, they could keep up with the other. I could keep up with them too, but they'd always had a closer bond.

I didn't want to send a care package, but the others probably did. I picked at my food for a little longer before deciding to go to class today. Maybe something would reveal itself.

My first class today was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Since the Taking, our schedules had been messed around a little so the Ravenclaws weren't with each other as much, especially with Lupin.

Lupin was a known sympathizer and if he had all the rebellious students, it would be easier to plan- well, a rebellion. God, we sounded like we were planning a terrorist attack instead of a protest.

But still, I did have to go to class. I headed out to the hallway, getting concealed by the crowd of students. Slowly but surely, I made my way to the room. Instead of our normal attendant whose name I'd never bothered to learn, the lady who arrested the Taken was there. I made a mental note to add her to the official list of Them as soon as I got back to the common room. Some 6th year had found a way to leave it on the bulletin board but hide it from Joseph so we had an ongoing list. If anyone needed to be added, they would be, and if a reason why was needed, you could go ahead and add it. It wasn't super policed, but everyone was pretty reasonable about keeping it accurate.

Meanwhile, Lupin was talking to her. I couldn't make out what either of them were saying, but Lupin was unhappy and the frog-lady was smiling. Lupin walked out of the classroom, nearly in tears. I didn't go after him, but I did think about it. He was my favorite teacher. I could see a few others debate it as well, but before anyone could, frog-lady closed the door.

"There have been some new werewolf regulations put into place and your professor is no longer allowed to teach you. He may stay to assist, but he will not be allowed to place you into harm's way. I am Professor Umbridge. I will be teaching you. Please put your wands away."

No. This meant she was making Defense Against the Dark Arts the same as what Charms was- a magic-free zone for the kids.

"We will only be studying theory the remainder of the school year in this class. It hasn't been proven yet, but I'm sure that this year, we will prove that simply thinking and reading over the notes will show OWL results just as high as the more dangerous hands-on teaching style. Now, some of you may not have copies of this book, so you will have to read with a partner, but you are expected to procure the book "A Study of Magical Defenses in Thought: Volume 4" by S. N. Mahalia within the next several weeks."

That was the same author as the Charms book. Did they just have one person write these? The writing wasn't even good for a textbook! But I did make another note to order it. Mycroft likely already had, having found out earlier as Head Boy.

The class was terribly dull. We just sat there, reading in silence, until the bell sounded for next class.

Now, I had History of Magic. It was unlikely Binns would get low marks. All he did was drone on, and it was history anyways. But he still had an observer in with him, rating him and looking extremely bored. The woman's eyelids drooped, and she didn't bother telling students to stop talking, but every once in a while she would make a mark on her clipboard, probably to look like she was working. Binns was probably staying.

There was yet another attendant in McGonagall's class. They, too, were talking. That observer was in for a treat if I knew McGonagall well.

I went through teachers in my head. Trelawney was gone for sure. Probably not Sprout or Sinistra. Vector and Bathsheba had been teaching for years and were unlikely to leave, but not as unlikely as Sprout. Hagrid was gone. For sure. Half-giant? Grubbly-Plank would probably take over. Snape… maybe. He taught well, and there was "no foolish wand-waving" in his class. He'd stay as long as they didn't hate him on sight. Madame Hooch would leave if the Ministry deemed her job unnecessary and dangerous. Maybe Quidditch, in general, would be cut. I didn't care for the sport, but Cecil the announcer did. Lots of Ravenclaw thought the sport was fun to watch, even if it wasn't useful. The Ravenclaw team didn't win very often, but when we did, it was mostly because someone who wasn't Cecil (Dan) was commentating.

Dan was a Slytherin in our year. He did his job, while Cecil spent all of his time fawning over Carlos on the field. To an obscene point. Actually, when was the next Quidditch game?

It didn't matter at the moment. For now, McGonagall was at the front of the classroom, asking for our attention. But she didn't need to.

"Class, I have an announcement to make. The Ministry would like you to learn- instead of from practice- from a book. And so, I will ask you to procure a copy of 'Transfiguration and Detransfiguration: A Study Through Thought' by S. N. Mahalia within the next few weeks."

Some Muggle-born in the back mumbled "more like a study in thot" or something and hi-fived their friend and were both quickly banned from being allowed to go to next week's Quidditch game. Oh, so it was next week. I should go and find out how far the Ministry is going to replace all the Hogwarts teachers.

McGonagall continued to speak. "However, until then, we will continue where we left off yesterday: Transfiguring hedgehogs to pincushions."

The Ministry observer in the back frowned, but couldn't do anything. She left, probably to go to another class. McGonagall turned to us. "Don't order the book. We will say the shipment didn't send and continue with class as usual."

Sighs of relief spread throughout the classroom, although Victoria and Willow- they weren't separated from me- frowned. It seemed likely they were going to snitch on her. So there went McGonagall.

I rubbed my eyes and got up to grab a hedgehog from the front. McGonagall came over to watch me cast the spell, saw that I did well, and gave me 10 points. Someone would probably lose them- and then some- for jinxing Willow and Victoria when they snitched on McGonagall, but that didn't matter.

The House Cup, like the Quidditch Cup, was never won by Ravenclaw. We always were too much of everything at once to get good points or bad points. Well, we had won. Never was an over exaggeration, but it was close. Always too loud and obnoxious.

Eventually, class ended. Herbology came and went- unsurprisingly, they let Sprout be. There was no magic to be used in Herbology, so there couldn't be a book to prevent it. Same with Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. All subjects without magic usage, simply relying on the attention span of the student.

I wasn't in Care of Magical Creatures, but at lunch, I heard that Hagrid was replaced by Grubbly-Plank. Unsurprising. Snape had been replaced though- very surprising to me. I'd expected him to remain. Someone must've had the same thought because across from me, I picked up bits and pieces of a conversation.

"-and I know he doesn't use a textbook, but-"

"-don't think that's why he's gone. I think they thought he was dangerous and abus-"

"-Pardo is too, so that's not why either. So then is it-"

It was probably the teaching style. He'd be replaced by someone who used a book instead of just writing on the board. The real question is would he be allowed to stay on the premises? Dumbledore had given Lupin, Trelawney, and Hagrid immunity when they first started teaching, saying they were allowed to stay at Hogwarts until they died- and since Dumbledore wasn't yet guilty, they had to stay, since "Acting" Headmistress Umbridge couldn't change that. She could add people and take away their jobs, but they would always have a home. Lupin could go back and live with his children until Dumbledore was let go, but Trelawney and Hagrid would likely stay here. And so would Snape, along with Lupin- to keep brewing him Wolfsbane.

The Forbidden Forest was the other problem. Full of half-breeds and giant spiders and- rumor had it- a flying car, left by a few students years ago. The Whomping Willow was a sore thumb in the already-dangerous forest. Maybe she'd cut it down! That'd be a sight. I'd have to borrow someone's broom and watch that spectacle.

But Quidditch was a dangerous sport. Which is why I doubted it would stay. Suddenly, a silence rang through the room. A Howler. It got up to where Lupin was at the table. His face was filled with fright. Surely, children had written home to their parents about being taught by a werewolf. And now he'd be getting a face-full of anger. If Dumbledore could get mail, he probably would too. But instead, George- or was it Fred?- Weasley's voice filled the room.

"Hey, Professor! Just wanted to say that you're the best teacher we've ever had! And I'd also like to extend a certain finger in the direction of anyone who says otherwise. Now, keep on going! We believe in you!"

The Weasleys were very famous for their impressive line of practical joke tech and other amazing pranking tools. There was quite a bit of laughter. Classes for the rest of the day were canceled as the Ministry must've been wanting to figure out what to do. When we got to our dorms, however- at least in Ravenclaw- there was a flyer hidden with the same magic as the Ministry list.

"Fred and I have heard about this terrible situation and would like to say one thing- 70% off all of our fireworks and pranking supplies as long as you promise to use them on these old geezers! Order now, because probably you won't be able to order later. We're ready to receive your owls. It's time for a good old-fashioned rebellion at Hogwarts."

That explained why there were so few kids in with me on a cold day. They must've been all at the Owlery ordering away. I decided to go as well. But instead, I might just summon one and send it off from my window.

The one I got had a name-tag that read "Owlberta". God, whoever named these things must've been on some serious Muggle drugs. I grabbed the catalog I knew Calvin kept in his trunk and looked over it. I ended up ordering one of "Fred-N-George's Pyrotechtrix Compendium", some Peruvian Darkness Powder, and 3 "Weather-in-a-Bottle"s. I sent off the owl. The delivery would likely arrive in the Great Hall tonight.

From the girl's room, I heard Roxy yell "You have a great ass!". I assumed it was a Howler for Professor Lupin, to be delivered at dinner tonight.

There were going to be quite a few owls in the Hall in a few hours, weren't there?

I was correct. Nearly all of the OWWHD™ had ordered something, and some of the others had too, taking advantage of the deals and maybe joining our cause. I'm sure we'd find out later.

Up at the table, Lupin was flooded with Howlers screaming all sorts of compliments. I couldn't even hear what Roxy said through the mass of screaming. And the Howlers weren't the only things. Now that the packages had arrived, fireworks were everywhere. I wasn't eating food in fear of ingesting a dropped "U-No-Poo" tablet. On the other side of the room, Phil had snuck off to join Mark, Sean, Felix, and Dan (Slytherins to his Hufflepuff) and began recording. They all had plans to be big stars on the Internet one day. I'd watched a few of their videos. They were pretty good, all things considered. I swore I could hear Felix say, "and this is our unboxing video!" but it was too loud to know for sure. I'd watch it later.

Chaos struck when someone saw McGonagall pick up a self-throwing cream pie from under the table and "throw" it at Umbridge. I whispered, "Incendio" and lit the entire box of fireworks on fire.

That whole box of samples of all of their Explosives Enterprises line only took up about a fifth of the amount in the room. Every once in a while, there would be a spot of darkness- especially up near the teachers, rendering them blind. The attendants, down from their assigned dorms, were stuck in Portable Swamps. I put a bubble around my head to block the stench of swamp water. Thor's Thunder Crackers went off from all sides of the room. I set off one of my "Weather-in-a-Bottle"s and blew all the powder to the other side of the room, where it met with the fireworks. The wheels picked up some of the powder and became disks of darkness just floating through the Hall. Someone had filled the front of the Hall with swamps, keeping everyone there. Everything was as it should be. This video was going to be amazing, although the Youtubers would have to make it only magic-accessible. That'd be an interesting challenge.

I dodged out of the way of a Silver Snake. The Ministry teachers were terrified, while the others looked like they were having the time of their lives. I threw my other two bottles out and put my darkness powder in one of the snake's mouths before finding John and grabbing his hand.

He turned to see me. "Sherlock! What are you doing?"

"Undercover of all this chaos. Just wanted to say hi. Now, let's get out of here. This way we won't get in trouble. I can get us over the swamps if you want. There are so many different things happening we can blame one person for all this trouble- but the Quidditch game on Friday could still be canceled. Anyways, that's not my point. Want to get out of this mess?"

John smiled. "Yeah, sure."


	8. Chapter 8

Luckily for me, the Quidditch match wasn't cancelled. Although I didn't usually go to these events, I think today I would. It was Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaw, and Cecil and Dan were taking turns commentating. Cecil, who had a crush on Carlos, and Dan, who had a minor crush on Phil. Two of the players. This would be interesting. Irene was in the crowd, cheering on her girlfriend. Mary had gone home, her parents having withdrawn her after they saw her in the paper. The paper had been published a week before the incident last week, but John was still sad. We were going together to maybe make him a little happier.

"Aaaand from Hufflepuff, we've got Thor! Wilson! Nepeta! Bones! Meulin! Harriet! Aaaaand Lester!" Dan started.

"And coming from Ravenclaw, we've got Nico de Angelo, Bruce Banner, David Bowie, Roxy Lalonde, Sam Winchester, Arthur Dent, and the man with teeth like a military cemetary, Carlos. Oh, just look at his lovely hair!

The fact that Cecil wouldn't stop fawning over Carlos at matches was a little weird, and I was surprised no one has tried to stop it. But that was probably why they made Dan do it too. Cecil wouldn't hog the mic.

The team captains (Phil and Bruce) shook hands and the game began.

Living in the wizarding world did make it a social faux pas to not know the rules to the only sport. In a Muggle world, there were so many games, if you didn't know the rules for one, it was assumed you knew the rules for one of the others. But we only had Quidditch, and so naturally, I ended up with more knowledge of the game than I would've liked.

Madame Hooch threw the Snitch up in the air, followed quickly by the rest of the balls. The keepers took their positions and the game began.

"Aaaand first off Nepeta has the Quaffle! She's heading down the field and just passed it to Phil. It seems she was being chased by Bruce. Now, Phil is being herded by a co-op force of Roxy and-"

"The beautiful scientist Carlos. His hair is rippling on the wind. He looks... sexy. He managed to wrest the ball away from a distracted Lester and turns right around. He glides effortlessly down the field and back towered the opposition's goal. He's passed the Quaffle to Roxy now, looking to share the glory. She takes a shot and makes it through the left hoop, scoring Ravenclaw the first ten points of the game." The last part was said without interest, obviously unimpressed by the skill Roxy had demonstrated.

Applause rang throughout the stadium. I participated. John looked a little happier.

Dan steals back the microphone and starts again on some unbiased- well, less obviously biased- commentary.

"And now, Carlos starts off with the Quaffle." In the background, a faint "perfect Carlos" can be heard.

"Ouch! But it looks like he just took a bludger to the chest thanks to Thor! The Quaffle was stolen by Roxy in a move of quick thinking. She's passing it to- intercepted! By Sam Wilson on the other team!"

Next to me, John's smile grew. His sister's team did have the ball. The cold November air turned everyone's cheeks red. He's wearing a scarf in support of his sister. I'd worn my Ravenclaw scarf, but neither of us cared. It doesn't matter.

I stopped paying attention. To the game, at least. I started paying a lot more attention to John. We were in the middle of a huge crowd of people, no one paying attention to us. He was completely enthralled with the game. It was a good look for him. God, he was pretty.

By the time I shook myself out of whatever trance the pores of John's face had me in, Hufflepuff was ahead by 3 goals. Carlos and Roxy did tend to get distracted by whatever Cecil was saying, although to be fair, so did Nepeta and Meulin. And everyone else. So maybe we were just bad at Quidditch. But it didn't matter. People were having fun.

No fireworks went off when Harriet caught the snitch, but that was expected. Umbridge had confiscated all of them and put the blame on Aranea. She'd be fine, just in trouble for a bit. Her mom wouldn't care.

As far as I could tell, the Serket parents did not give a fuck. Even when Vriska paralyzed a student, all the punishment she got was from the school. And from Aradia. And maybe Terezi? I didn't know. The Homestucks were really messed up. But that wasn't my story to tell.

Irene was screaming out praise. Dear god, this was not going to end well. Harry flew her broom over to her girlfriend, flipped upside-down, and- fuck.

Kissed her. In front of Umbridge. John's smile fell and the crowd split between dead silence and cheers for the display of love.

Umbridge and Pardo grabbed them and Umbridge started yelling. The prefect's box was close enough to the announcer's that we could hear everything being said, although Umbridge was so angry she could barely be understood.

"Irene Adler! You lose your privilege to be a prefect. Harry, you no longer can play. Report to Lester and turn in your broom. Actually, just hand it over now. And the two of you? Detention with me for the rest of the year. Separate. Come to my office, now!"

They were marched off the field. Silence fell over the crowd. Everyone knew Harry. And everyone loved her. Everyone knew Irene. And most people loved her too. I made a mental note to jinx Joseph tonight and have a huge discussion about what just happened. I almost debated an Imperius curse on him for the rest of his time here, but decided against it. Well, we'd see what happened tonight.

I looked over at John. He seemed worried. Were his parents… they were. That explained why Harry looked so relieved to see Irene- she hadn't been able to get to her girlfriend's house with homophobic parents.

This wouldn't be good.

Not only was our attendant jinxed, but apparently, the Slytherin common room had the same idea. Slowly but surely, groups of them made their way up to our room- we not only had better lighting, but more people to write down what was going on and more people to make sure Joseph stayed under wrap. And, if you asked me, a larger space. The second floor allowed for a designated speaker-area with a crowd on the first.

None of the Hufflepuffs could make it, but a few of the Gryffindors made their way over to our common room- John, Dean, and the Homestucks. So we congregated. Shit was about to go down. John and I got to the to top area- he did have a part in this. Up with us was Aranea and Meenah. They were dating, weren't they?

Aranea put up pieces of paper, floating them around. "We're going to crack down hard on this. Your friend groups? Write them down. It'll be more like a division of an army. If you don't have a group, we'll figure that out later. For now, these will be the infantries. It makes sense that way." A few kids nodded along, while the others just looked around, barely paying attention. I made sure that none of Them were here. Of course, Joseph was, but that was unavoidable. I was reasonably sure Vriska was in on controlling him.

"Tomorrow, bring everyone you know is in on this to the 3rd floor corridor. The Room of Requirement will be open." Aranea looked at me. This was a good plan. I nodded.

"Let's go lesbians!" someone yelled. The students started to group off, figuring out what teams they would have. But then, from down below, we heard a scream. "Umbridge!"

Some of the Ravenclaws directed the others through the corridor to the library. Meenah, John, and Mycroft ran up to hide in the dorms. Vriska undid the spell on Joseph and ran off to join the others hiding in the corridor.

Joseph slouched to the floor. Roxy came over and helped him up, saying something about him falling asleep. Umbridge was still at the door, trying to get the correct answer to the riddle. I heard the door ask again.

"What has an eye, but cannot see?"

"I don't know. And I need to get in to see my students. They've been very naughty."

"Answer the riddle. What has an eye, but cannot see?"

Joseph got up and let her in. Only Ravenclaws were in view, milling around like nothing had happened. The ones who knew they couldn't act natural were in a corner doing their homework, as far from the door as they could get. I walked down to where she was.

"Hello, Professor. Do you need anything today?"

She looked at me suspiciously. The walls worked so that we could hear the outside, but the outside couldn't hear the common room. But still, she must've been to go see the other houses and noticed some missing students. They'd be found in the library in a few moments, so there was no issue with that. The air had a tense atmosphere as Umbridge gave up on us and left. She brought Joseph out with her. Someone had planted one end of an Extendible Ear on them (and extended it considerably), so we could hear what they were saying. Joseph was complaining about not being able to get into the common room now- he was also terrible at riddles. That got us some time. After a quick word with Aranea, she went into the corridor to tell the students to pretend like they were studying there the whole time.

I let out a breath. Aranea came back with the papers. I could copy them tonight- maybe that would help me with my Moriarty case. School records didn't always have transfer students- for example, Lafayette was missing. I suppose he could be Moriarty, but I doubted it. He seemed to stick with his group.

The other options were people going by false last names… I didn't have time to think more about it when my phone went off. The buzzing in my pocket told me it was likely a FaceTime. I walked over to the table in Aranea's dorm- the sixth years had a tradition of keeping the girl's room cleaned out for meetings as well, and when Joseph showed up, they just kept him away. I suspected Aranea's Imperio blood, but wasn't sure entirely.

I pulled out my phone. Wait, was that… Felipe's number?

I answered. The two of them saw me and started to wave.

"Hey, Sherlock!"

I was a little shocked. "How did you- nevermind." They must've managed to convince the Aurors it was necessary. They were still locked in somewhere, so they hadn't escaped.

"Can you do us a favor and go get everyone? We've got a few spells for projecting the screen onto other surfaces and making the camera view larger in case we want to see everyone. Anyways, we've got forever to talk. We're not going anywhere," Felipe joked.

I analyzed them. They looked pretty much the same but were a lot skinnier. They had giant bags under their eyes. They were very pale- at least Cat was. There were no windows around, so it made some sense. I gave the phone to Aranea and Mycroft and went to get the fourth years.

But when I told Ashmin, she just said, "It's not fair to joke about that stuff."

"Do I sound like I am?" Cas gave me a deadpan stare, but the other's faces turned to comprehension. They rushed down to see the Taken. Cat brightened up when she saw them.

"Hey, guys!"

I couldn't make out what Ashmin and Ashley were saying. They were speaking much too quickly. But the other two could, and that was really what mattered.

Once the "ohmigodareyouokayhaveyoutwokissedyet" or whatever it was passed by, I summoned some chairs and we sat in a circle.

"One question at a time, guys."

I started. "How?"

"That's a loaded question," Cat said. "But they didn't bother to take away our phones, since it's muggle tech, and we've been practicing non-wand magic lately. We've had time. This is the first opportunity we've had to call you guys."

Even Mycroft looked a little happy to see the martyrs alive and- I'd say well, but they didn't look okay.

From what I could see of the room, there was one bed- not even that large- and no windows. It was very dark and grey. But covering the walls were little pieces of paper. Bits of what I assumed to be practice magic streamers- at least, they were bright colors and glowing, so I hoped it was that- also decorated the room. It was pretty aesthetic.

They didn't have any other lights but the colored streamers. I could see another room- probably a bathroom- in the corner, but even that didn't have lights. There was a table in the corner with parchment all over and a few quills. What looked like a deck of cards was there too. They must've been really bored. It'd been a few weeks, so I wasn't too surprised. Aranea's cat came over and jumped onto my lap.

Ashmin went next. "So have you kissed yet?"

Felipe blushed, but Cat looked her dead in the eye. "No!"

Ashmin let out a curse, but passed Kanaya a Galleon.

That annoyed both of them.

Terezi- how did she even get here?- spoke up. "Are they even feeding you?"

"Yeah. But not much."

Some more care for their well-being was exchanged. They looked both angry and tired.

"We probably have to go," Felipe pointed out. "They'll be coming to see us soon."

Cat's face fell. "Yeah, probably. We'll talk to you guys later. Text us?"

The girls and Calvin made promises to do so, and they hung up.

Cas turned to Hamilton. "You think they're going to be okay?"

Cecil answered. "Of course. Or else."

That was a little suspicious but unsurprising. If anything happened, Jade would sneak us all out and then the Ministry would be flooded with everyone who could risk it.

I went back up to my room. Felipe sent me a text, thanking me, but I just threw it down.

Wait a minute. What did that say?

I re-read it.

"Thank you- JM."

Uh-oh. It wasn't from Felipe, a different number instead. I saved it as JM.

I only pretended for a moment it wasn't Moriarty. It was definitely Moriarty.

And now I had a lead.

By lead, I meant that I knew Moriarty had a phone. I'd texted the number a few times, but all I'd gotten back was the same text, just as soon as I'd sent one. "Thank you- JM." It'd been a week. The only thing that changed it was if I said some variant of "You're welcome", in which case the text said nothing.

I'd told John about it the first day. He was understandably worried. "You should go to Dumbledore about this!"

But there was no point. It was just me breaking the rules. And even Sollux, with his amazing hacking skills, wasn't able to trace the number. I didn't even know if it was someone in Hogwarts or not.

In the meantime, I did have class I could go to.

As someone who was very interested in magic, I'd signed up for Lupin's extra class, a "secret" class in the Room of Requirement. Umbridge didn't know. I took it instead of her class, but she didn't have to know that.

Using some magic that Dave had made so he didn't have to go to class, I created a temporary copy of myself. It had a basic brain, but in Umbridge's class, all it had to do was turn pages.

The others in his class in my hour were Jake and the Strilondes. Why the Strilondes were allowed classes together, I wasn't sure, but it didn't matter too much.

We practiced magic of all sorts- both experimental and approved. Lupin was very impressed by Rose's abilities. She actually taught him more things than he taught us. I was pretty sure he'd teach these spells to the next class as well. He didn't technically know about our plans of minor rebellion, but I was sure he had an idea that it was happening.

Speaking of which, the first phase was tonight. Dan, Phil, Mark, Sean, Felix, Cecil, and Carlos- known as Video for some reason I couldn't understand- would be sneaking into Umbridge's office while Dean, Sam, Lucifer, Cas, Michael, Charlie, and Kevin- Hunters 1- would cause a distraction for her right next to Dumbledore's office.

To make sure that nothing would go wrong, Gabe and Balthazar- Tricksters- had snuck out to a nearby Muggle town and gotten more Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to keep Flitch, Pardo, and the other Ministry teachers occupied. They were accompanied by the Remainder- Calvin, Ashmin, and Ashley- as well as the others in my dorm Jade, Kanaya, and Sollux, Team Space and Doom. Just as coincidence, we'd planned it on the night of the full moon- so Snape wouldn't be in the castle. I'd wanted for Howlers to be set off all over, but Umbridge had banned them after the day people sent them in to Lupin screaming compliments. McGonagall was here, but she'd probably see to the fireworks with the others. The other teachers were probably too far away, but just in case, the Serkets and Pyropes- known as Team Scourge- were on Muffliato duty. John E. and the Strilondes- we just called that team the Strilondes, since they weren't usually going to be in the same team- were in charge of jinxing the attendants. The rest of us were supposed to ensure that it looked like they were all in bed.

It started at 9 after everyone was supposed to be in their common rooms. We had our phones on and used them like walkie-talkies. Someone had found a map that showed everyone's positions- I thought it was Jane, but I wasn't sure- and was in charge. She gave everyone cookies, delivered by Roxy. She said that Jane was acting a little strange, but whatever. We all had special cookies! Baked just for us!

I ate the cookie. It was pretty good.

But I wasn't participating in this heist. I had opted out to see if I could figure out who JM was. I used the student records and the families of everyone to figure out who the odd one out was.

The issue with that was anyone with a muggle parent or a parent who didn't go to Hogwarts would be a suspect. So I started with the purebloods.

I'd made the student records into a full-on spreadsheet with their heritage and friend group. I put the purebloods at the top and got started. I sent what could've been considered a quick prayer for the mission and got started with my research.


	9. Chapter 9

It didn't help at all. The spreadsheet told me nothing. Everyone was on there with all the right names. I'd managed to get my hands on some public records to find the Muggle-borns' names- they matched too. The only thing I couldn't find were the family trees of the purebloods. So maybe that was the issue.

I was reasonably certain at this point that Moriarty was one person. JM were initials. So I'd narrowed it down to everyone with the first name starting with J, including 4 "James"s, 3 Jakes and 5 Johns. In total, 20 people. Ugh. That'd take awhile to figure out.

None of them had a last name that started with M, so I couldn't have one main suspect. But what if…

J could be a fake first name. That opened the list back up to anyone though! Maybe Moriarty wasn't the person who sent the text though… but it was JM.

What about people with "M" last names? They'd be more likely to choose an "M" last name- even if that would be a little stupid. There were 25.

The Homestucks were unlikely to have done this, but I didn't rule them out. Moran… he was an oddball. He was supposed to be in 5th year, but took some of the 4th year classes. Maybe he was just stupid?

I ruled out Egan. He wouldn't be an issue anymore. Thor, Sean- who asked us to call him "Jack"-, Aradia, and Gamzee could be ruled out. They valued quidditch over everything. I had seen a few of the others- actually, there were so many names, I could just rule out ones with no motive. Well, I'd have to keep them in mind, but everyone who acts strangely and is known for being a double-crosser would definitely go higher on the list.

Kurloz? Unlikely, but maybe. Damara? She'd not be nearly as discreet. Willow… Willow or Victoria would be approving of some of the things that had happened. Annabeth and Percy weren't part of our thing, but maybe they'd done something to piss them off? Mary wouldn't be an issue for now, since she was at home. But I should probably put her on the list anyways.

Then again, the voices I heard… I left Moran at the top, although voices could be disguised.

I ruled out Maloney through Mayhew. I doubted Emma- or Emily, who also had M as her last name- would do anything to hurt anyone. If they needed to, one of their friends- Calvin, Cat, or Felipe- would do it for them...

Huh. What about them? I added all 3 to the list. I didn't remember if any of them had an "m" last name, but if they did, they'd be higher on the list. They were likely to fuck shit up if anyone got in their way. There was a reason they got the respect they did.

I ruled out Ma and Magneto as well. That left McReynolds, Ella; Mosher, Willow; Makara, Kurloz; Megido, Damara; Moristan, Mary, and…

No.

I didn't believe it.

Melane, Cat.

And I knew from her friends that "Cat" wasn't her real name. She went by Cat because she didn't like her real name- but no one was sure what that real name was. Well, her friends knew, but they were sworn under some kind of oath to never tell anyone. And she'd changed her name on the records before she came, some kind of arrangement with Dumbledore.

Could it…

Was she JM? Not necessarily Moriarty, but maybe in cahoots or simply working alongside Moriarty.

It would make some sense as to why I hadn't seen much lately. But she did have contacts. And her magic… She was able to sneak past the Ministry. Although, that might be just an IQ test based on our current administration.

Snarky comments about the government aside, she was a likely suspect. I put her up there with Moran. How could I have forgotten about that? I guess I just thought she didn't have a chance, being jailed and all.

But as I said, she's just like this. So, likely. I put her boyfriend up there too. Or, I'm sorry, not boyfriend. That was the list. I thought about putting Jim Soliani up there too, but decided against it.

John… I didn't put him up there either. Or maybe I should? He'd been unsuspicious so far, but now…

I decided against it and put the list down. The mission was probably over. I could go see how it went.

I walked out of the dorm and almost into Joseph. Luckily, he still didn't notice. He was too busy yelling at someone- Roxy. Shit. That couldn't be good. That meant something had gone wrong. I snuck upstairs. Aranea was in my dorm, pacing back and forth. She didn't have her phone. Uh-oh.

"They caught us. Someone snitched. I don't know who, I should've listened when Crowley told me to jinx it, but I didn't, and now our rooms are being searched. I'm back in my dorm. Some of the other Ministry members were on their way, I heard the name 'Brazeau' go by- you know, that guy? The one who looks like a security guard who took away Cat. And didn't get jinxed, which surprised me. But I guess- it doesn't matter now. He's coming to oversee the separation and clearing out of the Ravenclaw dorm rooms. And then he's going to raid Gryffindor, then Hufflepuff, then Slytherin. We're all stuck in our rooms again. And this is the last I can talk to you since I was in a lot of trouble already. So tell the Gryffindors. Get the word out. He'll come to you second, probably, so hurry. I need to go. I'll cause a distraction. Come on! Get going!"

She shoved me towards the center of the room. Everyone else was out. I didn't have my phone- it must've been taken already. But Cat's stuff was still there. She had a computer that could text, right?

She always left it in the guys room. We used the girl's room for sleeping, guys for storage, mostly. This year had been different. I pulled it out. She didn't bother Alohomora-proofing her chest, just knowing that anyone who stole her stuff would be taken care of. But her computer was locked.

Damn it. What was her password? She never told anyone. Well, that I knew of. But what did she like?

It took me about 15 tries and 3 minutes to get it right. But eventually, I hit it right on the nose. Johnlocked, whatever that was supposed to mean. I didn't bother thinking about it. Well, I did, but…

I typed out a text to Rose, Emma, and Dean, the first contacts from each house I found. I shut her computer and panicked for a moment. She'd need this, right? Wait! I could send it to her! She'd showed me a spell- well, showed it to Cas, but that wasn't my fault- where I could teleport things- but it was very risky.

Oh well. It was either that or never have it again.

I cast the spell, and the computer disappeared. I let out a breath I didn't notice I'd been holding and sat down right as Cas came running in, some teachers hot on his tail. Even though most of the guys slept in the girl's room, most of the stuff was just kept on the other side so we don't trip over anything. When everything happened, her stuff was left here other than what she had on her. Huh, she must've been put in a cell still in her elder god clothing. That probably got some stares.

I was a little suspicious still, but that didn't stop me from deducing things I hadn't realized before. I was still a little new to this.

But in the current day, I was now in a room with an angry teacher who just caught up to Cas. He was frantically scrambling over beds with what I suspected was his phone. But it was to no avail.

The man caught up to him. He looked red and angry. Was this Brazeau? I thought so. He stole Cas' phone from his hand. Then, he summoned all the tech from the room. It took him 4 tries to get the words right. It was just a simple summoning spell. Jesus, how dense was this guy?

I didn't say that out loud. That would be offensive.

Oh wait, yes, I did.

The man stared at me, anger in his eyes.

"And just who do you think you are?"

I didn't answer him, and instead threw down an extra darkness powder thing I'd found a while ago. I jumped out the window in the black smoke. I must've looked very mysterious. I prayed to whatever deities were out there that Cas knew better than to tell Brazeau who I was.

I landed on the roof and ran around to the edge where I couldn't be seen. I crawled down a ladder put there by hell knows who before my time and dropped down into the courtyard. I started to walk back in to the library, but was stopped by a snowdrift.

God damn it.

I guess it was just that kind of day. I crawled over the snowdrift, even though it would get my robes soaked. Hopefully, by the time I got back, he would be gone. It was late, and I might get in trouble with Flitch, but probably not. He was probably too busy wrangling the other kids. Something buzzed in my pocket.

When Mycroft and I got along, he taught me a spell to make sure no one could _Accio_ things out of my pockets. So my phone was still there. I ducked in to the library, then into the passage where I had better signal.

I didn't have a text. Instead, I had a call! But it didn't matter that it was from Cat. I was already in trouble.

I could just go to the hideaway and take the call. That would also give me a chance to get away from whatever trouble was going down outside here.

But when I got to my hideout, everything went to shit.

As soon as I touched the last brick to open it up, I saw John inside.

"Sherlock! It's good to see you! It's been a bit, hasn't it? And yes, I am being controlled. It's a very impressive spell. Now, close up, will you? It's getting a little drafty."

I did as "John" asked. I couldn't see the trademark blue tint of Serket fuckery on his face, but that didn't mean it wasn't them. John had on a giant coat with several layers of fuzz on him. I treaded carefully around it to the other side of the room.

"Did you have to do this now?"

"Yes! When someone's in stress is the perfect time to reveal to them the truth. So, what do you think? Who am I?"

I stopped. John had his wand out and was pointing it straight at himself…

If I got this wrong, something would happen. And as someone who couldn't deny his crush on John anymore, I couldn't let that happen.

"I don't know yet. Give me a few more days."

"Oh, Sherlock, you don't have a few more days! Who am I? Or else- Avada Keda-" I cut him off before he could complete the phrase.

"Moriarty."

John rolled his eyes.

"Obviously. But who is Moriarty? Is it… Vriska? Is it… Jake? Or is it… Me?"

I stopped. That made more sense than I would've liked it to. John had made his way close to me, making me like him. This "Imperio" thing could've been just a prank.

But no. I didn't believe that.

"It's not you! It's-"

I shot up, my face against the wall of the room.

There was no trace of anyone being in here earlier. Or ever, other than me. That wasn't good.

I checked for a pulse. That was dumb. So I counted. Heart rate? Fast. Why had I gone to dinner today? Why was I thinking about dinner today? What had-

Oh.

I'd been drugged.

I must've pulled myself into this room after I realized the drugs had kicked in. That made sense. That was why I opted out. Did I do this to myself?

It would make some sense. Why did everything and nothing make sense? Was I still high? Probably.

That explained why the drop from the 7th floor of the Ravenclaw tower to the courtyard didn't kill me. What had happened? What hadn't? When was it?

I pulled at my hair, but then noticed a rubber band on my arm. I pulled at it, snapping myself out. The pain was a welcome surprise. Someone walked in. It was John.

"Sherlock! There you are! You're late for the-" I snapped the rubber band again and he disappeared.

Wow, drugging myself was both a bad idea and a good idea, since it had given me another opportunity to think about the case.

I had everything down on a sheet, but that didn't mean that everything I thought had happened had happened.

I didn't have my phone. Or was it…

It was in my shirt pocket. That was why it was heavy when I sat up! God, this better wear off soon. Where did I even get this stuff? Was it me who got it? Did I actually drug myself? Or did I make that up and Moriarty drugged me, hoping to kill me or at least give me a bad trip?

It was 10 PM on the 22nd of November. At the start of the day, I'd skipped breakfast. And everyone had been in the Ravenclaw common room. That was something that happened. When I snapped my wrist, the thought didn't go away. So it probably did.

Then… The letter. I'd mailed a letter somewhere. Right? Had I? Did I lick a stamp? Was that- nope. I ate something. A cookie. From someone who acted strange. That happened. Jane was being controlled, wasn't she? She was probably temporarily under the Imperius curse. Yes, that sounded right.

I stumbled out from the corridor. Joseph was there, but he didn't see me. He wasn't yelling at Roxy. The mission went well, probably?

I got up to my room, somehow. God, everything hurt. I passed out again on my bed.

When I woke up again, I was in the hospital wing. The sun was setting outside the window. John was looking over me, concern in his eyes. I sat up. Pomfrey rushed over, and shooed John away.

"Ask questions later, dear. I have my own for him at the moment."

I didn't think I was capable of being coherent, but maybe I was. I tried my best.

"Jane, Imperious, cookie, LSD, pain. Yes?"

She had no idea what I was talking about. My throat hurt.

"Drugged. LSD. I think. Someone cast Imperio on the cookie Jane. The one she made for me."

That wasn't it either. But she got it. Or at least enough. She cast a spell and gave me a potion. In that order? Did she summon it?

I felt a little better. My throat didn't hurt nearly as much as it had. I sat all the way up again.

I explained what I thought had happened, making sure to keep out the contents of my drug trip. I said it was probably just a prank, or something. Maybe Jane was given the cookie. I didn't know. Maybe it was a Serket. Probably not, but…

Pomfrey smiled knowingly. We all knew about them. They were something of a medical miracle in the scientific community. Especially Vriska, who managed to survive whatever happened with her, Tavros, Terezi, and Aradia. She lost an eye. And an arm! And instead of having us grow them back, she made Equius' dad make one for her.

Or something like that. I wasn't sure. But it didn't matter. All that did was that I was okay. Madame Pomfrey went to go check on another student. John rushed over to me.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

I gave him a deadpan look, then realized he probably couldn't hear what Pomfrey was saying.

"I got drugged. I'll be fine. It helped me a lot. I managed to get to a safe spot and do some thinking. It may be-" I didn't finish my sentence. John was looking at me curiously, but didn't protest. I got up, ignoring Pomfrey, who yelled at me to lie back down. I was probably still a little high, but there was still something behind the curtain. I pulled it back to find my phone.

Making sure Pomfrey didn't see, I slipped it into my robes and walked back to my bed. It was nearly night. John would need to be going to bed soon. I showed him the phone and made sure he'd know to talk to me tonight about any questions. He rolled his eyes. He'd probably put it there, to be honest.

I closed my eyes and tried to back to sleep. Damn, I was really tired. But I did have to text John. I kept myself awake for another half an hour before texting him.

"I don't know who it is. But the drug trip helped a little. I got some things sorted out. Do you know Cat's real name? She may be Moriarty- I don't know for sure."

He didn't respond.

I put my phone down when Madame Pomfrey came by to check on me again.

"Sherlock, dear, get some rest. You should be fine by the morning, so for now, just try to sleep. Understand?"

I nodded wearily. John would get back to me in the morning. For now, the medicine was wearing off. I drifted back off to a dreamless sleep.

Madame Pomfrey gave me some medicine to sleep through the next day as well. I didn't have the strength to tell her not to.

I was in and out of consciousness, but every once in awhile, when I woke up, I'd see some flowers or a card on the bedside table. Why would anyone leave them there? Was it Molly? It was probably Molly. She's had a huge crush on me forever. Why was I still feeling effects of drugs? What was going on?

I got up from bed, still sleepy. Pomfrey was nowhere in sight. I grabbed the flowers in one hand and thought about trying to get back up to my dorm room. Maybe a walk would help me out some. And there, someone could tell me what I'd missed. I got out of the bed and started walking, but suddenly there was a stinging pain in my arm. I looked down to see I had what must've been a Muggle IV in my arm. Instead of taking it out, which would've hurt and been really bad for me, I levitated it along as I walked. I didn't think the drugs were that bad in my system, but I guess a healer knows better as to the effects than someone who was literally on LSD in the past… however long.

My head throbbed as I made my way up the shifting staircases to my dorm. Rowena had done this. Why had she done it? Why did I even know she'd done it? And why was no one out today? Who'd gotten in trouble this time? It was day, so where was everyone?

I nearly fell on the trick stair, but managed to make it up the next staircase. I could see the entrance to my dorm. The knocker was gone! That was… bad. Why was that bad? Why couldn't I think?

When I got to the door, I still couldn't see the knocker. I pushed on the knob and it opened.

The room was nearly abandoned. A few 3rd years looked up at me. I didn't bother to check what they were doing as I went up the stairs. Why were there so many stairs? We didn't have wheelchair-bound people, some ancestor of Ashmin's had seen to that- she was from a long line of healers, but wasn't proud of that. The teachers made us hear about it anyways, specifically McGonagall, who wanted everyone to know about this possible career path.

My head swam. Every bone in my body ached. I got to the seventh floor. Wait, where was Joseph? Why wasn't he yelling at me?

I fell in. The door let me in, which was good, since I didn't have any malicious intent. It shouldn't not let me in.

The kids in my room looked up at me. They were sitting on the floor, huddled together. Calvin got up.

"Sherlock! What happened?"

I sat down on my bed instead of answering. I did not have time for this. Some song started going through my head. I had no idea what it was. Without thinking, I pulled out my violin and started playing it.

They all stared at me. I'd heard this song before, I just knew it. It was nearly a scale, over and over? Maybe? Why couldn't I think? It went back and forth between a sharp-and-flat-scale. It was so repetitive.

"... Sherlock, what drugs are you on?"

I didn't answer that either. All I could do was keep playing like 40 measures of song over and over again. One of the more ridiculous strokes of my bow jostled the IV out of my arm. I kept playing. They all looked terrified of me.

It didn't matter. Whatever song this was made things drift through my mind I'd never thought of before. I knew everything. I could see everything. The combination of being on drugs and this music made me understand what I needed too. The school was about to be dragged through hell. It would be JM- who was in fact Moriarty-'s fault. I still didn't know who that was.

I felt fevered. Everything hurt and felt perfect. Molly's name went through my head. She was connected to Moriarty. She was in her dorm? She was dating him? I didn't know.

Then I put my violin down and passed out again.

It must not have been for long though, because when I opened my eyes again, everyone was just coming over to look at me. I moved them out of the way and threw up.

I collapsed on my bed. Everyone looked at me. Somehow, they'd gotten Kanaya and the other girls over. Maybe they'd gotten rid of Joseph! That made sense for why he wasn't there.

It was silent for a few seconds before Ashmin started to say something.

"Sherlock?"

I sat up. I pointed at the IV bag. Ashley went over to look at it. She knew stuff about chemicals! She'd lived in the same town as Cat! She kind of had to know. It'd all be fine.

She screamed as she read the label.

"They gave him some motherfucking 3-trimethoxyphenethylamine!"

Ashmin, Jade, Carlos, and Cecil gasped. Everyone else had no idea what was going on.

Ashley saw our looks and said, "It's some really, really powerful shit. Holy crap. I could sell this for so much. It's almost more powerful than LSD in this form, and it's longer lasting. Where did you get this?"

I groaned out something I hoped sounded like hospital wing. Ashmin seemed to understand.

"How did they even get this? Jesus!"

I drifted away again. I heard Calvin say something about "but how did it let him know the violin part to Running in the 90's?" and some other conversation. Something was said about a politician who took it for a radio show in 55. I didn't know how they knew that. It didn't matter. I was going to be asleep soon.

The very last thing I heard was "near-deadly dose."

Somehow, I wasn't surprised.


	10. Chapter 10

I had many questions when I woke up. My headache was gone. I was in my bed. The others had somehow managed to put me in a hospital-like area but not the hospital wing. Was I in the Room of Requirement? Probably. Molly stood over me, adjusting a few things in… yet another goddamn IV.

Some 7th and 6th years were here too. I didn't care about them. They probably didn't care about me and were only curious what that dosage would do. I swore I saw a Hufflepuff try to steal some of the Mescaline that was in the other IV bag. Why did I know it was Mescaline? How awake had I been?

When Molly looked at me again, she saw my open eyes. She called everyone over.

"He's awake again. Did you say that on average people recover from this kind of dosage after waking up 3 or 4 times? He's on his 4th."

I laid down. When had I sat up? Had I sat up? Ugh, it hurt to think, kind of. I still didn't understand what was going on with the world around me, but at least I was getting a better grip on reality.

Someone walked over. Irene, maybe. She smacked me in the face. The other kids looked at her angrily.

"It's all gone to shit. We're stuck in our dorms now since there are about 80 people outside patrolling for anyone who tries to leave, the building at least. The teachers told us to stay inside, but we don't really care. The Ministry tried to kick out Aranea and the others who were being gay as sacrifices- I think their actual words were 'better off dead than gay' but I'm not sure- so we've been in the Room of Requirement for awhile. It's the 1st of December, in case you wanted to know. Now ask away."

I was a little unhappy about how much Irene knew about me, but I wasn't going to complain right now.

"What did you treat me with? Was Pomfrey under Imperius or is she being like this in general?"

Everyone looked at me in surprise. I was getting better faster now. Roxy answered my first question.

"Wizardpedia. Cat and I have been filing the entirety of the library online and now we have all the answers to anything that's ever happened in history or will happen that someone predicted. It's a pretty fun thing to do since I was put in here. By the way, that happened 2 days ago."

She was pretty chill about this whole thing. She, Irene, Cat, Aranea, and the other Strilondes were always pretty okay with stuff happening that freaked everyone else out. They'd be one hell of a power group.

"We don't know about Pomfrey yet. And by the way, your boyfriend wants to know if you're okay. We haven't told him anything. Also, Roxy, get him back to your dorm. That way we'll find out about what happened to Pomfrey if she shows up to try to find him. Well, maybe not Roxy," Irene pondered aloud. "Probably Cas. He'll answer whatever questions you have."

"Toodle-oo!"

Cas levitated me out of the room and through the library. Why couldn't I have stayed longer? Where did that IV go?

Did I stay longer? I probably did and just can't remember. Great. Now whatever information I missed I would sound dumb for not knowing. Oh well. Cas probably wouldn't judge.

Wait a second. I had a boyfriend? No, she was just talking about John. Wait, was he my boyfriend? Why couldn't I think?

"Let me down a second."

Cas gave me a wary look but set me down on the ground.

"Do you have any more of that medicine they gave me earlier?"

He nodded and pulled something out of his pocket. "I don't know who got it here, but it's some kind of magic thing from St. Mungo's or something. I don't think you should take it this soon after the-"

I grabbed it out of his hand and took some more. My head cleared. I started walking up to the dorm.

He chased after me but didn't stop me from walking.

"That was not a great idea."

"I don't care."

JM was Cat. Probably. It was likely. So I could just get that figured out and it'd all be good. And she was in jail, so I just had to find her mole.

I got to my dorm and threw open her trunk. Her laptop could probably give me some idea as to who it was. But it wasn't there!

"Cas, do you know-"

Joseph was in the room.

"Sherlock, there you are! You've been missing classes. Come on now, I was sent to find you by Umbridge. She would like to talk to you about making up some work you've missed in all your classes. Would you mind coming with me?" He didn't even wait for a response, just grabbed my arm and took off.

I kept up with him. We passed Cas along the way, who was very confused. Joseph made too many twists and turns. Under his breath, I heard him mumble something about "should've stayed at Durmstrang", which explained why he was taking me to the wrong part of the school. But I stayed quiet.

Eventually, he tripped on the false stair and gave up, instead just folding up a paper airplane and following it.

I'd seen them flying around in the Ministry, but I hadn't seen this use before. I guess you really do get inventive when you're lost and hurt.

He still had an iron grip on my arm. I was not happy about that, but whatever. We followed the airplane which somehow had the patience to not fly off without us, or maybe it just went really slow. I wasn't sure.

But somehow, we made it to Umbridge's office. It wasn't Dumbledore's, but it was still pretty fancy. I wasn't sure how she'd managed it, but everywhere was covered in lacy pink kittens. I could've sworn I saw McGonagall's cat form on one of the photos of the wall, probably somewhere in the castle. I snorted. McGonagall probably was going to mess with Umbridge- make her hate cats by the end of this. If she didn't, Cat would.

God that was a shitty pun.

Damn it.

Umbridge was staring at me, looking as if she wanted a response to a question. She must've asked something. I didn't answer.

"I said, why have you been missing your classes?"

Oh. Ummm… I didn't have a good answer. I had answers, but none of them were good. "Well, I think that my classes are too easy and are teaching me either irrelevant or things I've learned before. And I can teach myself better. And that's not including the fact I've been poisoned and drugged several times now by the food you give me and the medicine I was given by Madame Pomfr-"

She cut me off.

"So you don't like our method of teaching? Well, Mr. Holmes, it's not up to you. So if you would attend class, we won't have these issues. Now, will you be attending class?"

"That wasn't what I said! Well, it was, but the main issue was that I've been on several drug trips due to others within the school! And I may not be the only one getting drugged! This is a major issue-"

"William Holmes, that is not what I asked. I asked will you be attending classes, and that was not an answer. I am not looking for an excuse."

"You asked me why I wasn't attending class, that was asking for an excuse, that contradicts your-"

"Don't talk back." Her trademark false sweetness was gone. She was getting very angry with me. Good!

"I will assign one of our on-sight Aurors to your case. Ever since America started doing it with their kids, I've hoped not to have to, but in your case, with your impertinence, I think it's the best possibility."

What? No. I didn't need an Auror. I needed someone who knew what the Imperious curse was and how to tell who was under it! I needed someone to find out who was putting LSD in the food, or water supply, or… whatever! Augh!

"Someone is threatening our school and poisoning people! I was kidnapped earlier this year!"

She took a deep breath. "And you're delusional."

I was nearly at my breaking point. "Ask McGonagall! Someone was kidnapped in September! And so was I! God, you're just-"

She called out into the hall. "Joseph? Take him back to his dorm. Keep him there until I get a case manager assigned."

He came in and grabbed my arm again. I was fuming. Normally, I wouldn't be, but this was the safety of the entire school! Not to mention, I was incredibly curious. And she just put so many barriers in my way…

We walked back. A short meeting with Umbridge had not only just made my file larger but kept me in my room. Unless…

I could see John from my room. What if…

I'd need someone to take messages back and forth, or set up something or other for communication…

I'd be the insider. I just had to work my way out of this and into a better place. And not eat. That was very important. My stomach growled just thinking about it.

As we passed by the endless halls, I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror. I looked like a mess. I hadn't been in a shower since Thursday… What day was it anyways?

I almost pulled out my phone to check. But I managed to resist until I got into my dorm. I was the only one there.

"Stay in here. If you come out, I will know about it."

He enchanted my door. He wasn't supposed to be able to do that, but whatever. As soon as he shut it, I pulled out my phone.

I'm sure my face must've paled. It was the 22nd of November… The mission took place on the 16th! Jesus fuck, how long had I been in the hospital wing? No wonder Umbridge pulled me out of class.

I sat down on the bed. Then got right back up and got into the shower. I really, really smelled.

John didn't answer my text. I didn't worry too much. We were all on edge now. And since people like Chad were in his room… let's just say it wasn't unusual for them to take forever. Of course, Gamzee was there too, and everyone was afraid of the Makaras, but still.

I had been alone and locked up in my room for 8 hours now. I'd ransacked the Taken's trunks to see if I could be entertained, but the only things I found were their clothes. Not even their wands were there! Also, Cat's computer was gone. I thought that was something I only thought I did? That was interesting. Either someone took it and my brain thought it up, or…

I shot off a text to her. Maybe she did have it.

She responded quickly enough. "Yeah lmao it just appeared over my bed idek why, but it did. Anyways how is everyone?"

I didn't answer that. So someone sent it to her. Was it possible in my drugged state I'd managed to get it to her? It seems possible. I could check Wizardpedia, but maybe not. I was pretty sure I'd read about things like that happening before.

Was Wizardpedia even still running with the two main coordinators in jail and hidden in a room respectively? Honestly, almost definitely. Roxy could keep anything running if she tried hard enough.

The next text I got was an "asshole" from Felipe. I wasn't sure if he texted that or if Cat stole his phone and texted it, but whatever. They didn't matter anymore.

I had things to do.

Okay, maybe they did matter. If they were Moriarty. Or at least if Cat was. So that was that.

I went back to the spreadsheet. I didn't think that Moriarty would get themselves arrested, which was why they were moving further down. Also, why would they bother getting Egan to do work for them? They were Ravenclaw. They'd do it themselves, probably. Although Hufflepuffs were hard workers… Ugh.

Jim Soliani. He and Moran were getting more and more likely with each moment. Maybe they were all working together. That wouldn't be surprising.

I still couldn't think. What was wrong with my brain? Maybe sleep would help. Or violin! Yes, that would be better. Right? Nope. Everything hurt. I cried out in pain as I tried to reach under the bed. No, no, no! Not again! This was annoying. And also made me fear for my life, but mostly annoyed me to hell. Whoever was drugging me needed to take a chill pill. I was probably going to die soon. Shit.

I had learned to apparate years ago. I was a bored child and they couldn't really do anything about it. All I had to do was get out of here and to the outside where I could apparate away. To St. Mungo's. Hopefully, no one would follow me there. There was nowhere safe! … But still, St. Mungo's was my best hope.

If I crawled out of the window…

Yeah, I was just gonna go back to the Room of Requirement for another few days. I'd disappear after that. Cas was in the common room as I made my way back downstairs. I'd grabbed Calvin's invisibility cloak his mom had given him and threw it on over myself.

"Bring me back to that room. Now."

He must've seen the panic in my disembodied voice since he grabbed where he thought my arm was and headed off. Eventually, he gave up and just levitated me.

Why was my life going down the drain as quickly as it was? What was going on? Who was causing this?

On our way, we bumped into a Gryffindor. He pulled off the cloak.

"Sherlock? Are you okay?"

I felt instantly better from the contact. Whoever had done this… had they tampered with my body's chemicals? I'd read theories about people doing that so their chosen slave couldn't escape from them… But it was unlikely. I used the jolt I got to stand up.

"I've been poisoned and drugged. Again. Come on, we should show you the common room." I grabbed his arm and ran through the halls with him, pulling the invisibility cloak and Cas along with us. We made it in record time- whoever controlled the stairs must've been working in our favor. I silently thanked the Grey Lady and knocked at the door.

A muffled "password" came from the other side. Cas stepped up to the task.

"Your mom."

There was an audible "lmao" from the other side. I almost had a cringe attack. The door swung open.

"No matter what anyone says, there is no way that is ever going to be not funny," Dan said. When did he get here? It doesn't matter.

"I need to stay in here. I'm on the run too for missing class. And it's also possible I'm constantly drugged and I need a constant solution."

"Makes sense. But I'll leave that to Rose and the Ravenclaws."

I looked around. "Where are they, anyway?" The only people in the room were Cas, John, Mark, Felix, Mariza, Dan, and Phil.

"Oh! They went to get some things from the kitchens! They'll be back soon." I smiled at Mariza kindly. There was like a 20% chance her defense squad would kill me if I didn't. Better safe than sorry.

"Thank you. But I need them back up here… well, I don't know. Probably not."

"Sherlock, what is going on?"

Right. John was still clueless. And I'd been gone from class and everything for several days. I did my best to explain as we waited for the others to get back.

"That makes no sense."

"Just don't tell anyone it might be Cat."

Cas and the others had given us the back space with the beds to talk while they waited for the group to get back. Why did they all have to go, anyway? How much food were they getting?

A better question: how long were they going to stay here?


End file.
